Caveat
by jibbsloversunited
Summary: A phone call in the middle of the night brings old friends together again under less than ideal circumstances. A JIBBS AU - by Elflordsmistress
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

I intended to take a break from writing after _Twelfth Night_ (not least because my puter needs to go to the clinic), but after last night's episode I've changed my mind. I have to be honest and say that this first chapter has been sitting on my hard drive since I came back from hiatus in September – but I wasn't planning to actually use it for a while. If at all. That changed after watching _Caged Bird_. Ducky is far and away my favourite character after Jen, and I feel I haven't showcased him enough in these AUs.

Can't tell you what kind of update schedule I'll be following, because I have a lot of real life commitments at the moment; but I will do my best to keep it tight.

____________________________________________________________

Ducky was startled out of slumber by the ringing phone. Peering at the clock confirmed his suspicion that this was an ungodly hour. He reached for the phone with unease flaring through him. Phonecalls at this hour of the night seldom boded well. Deduction told him that the rest home would have used the landline - so a call on his cell could only mean a call to a crime scene.

"Yes, Jethro ..." he enunciated wearily into the receiver.

"It's starting all over again, Ducky."

The medical examiner sat up in bed – staring at the phone in his hand as though he thought he might be hallucinating.

"Ducky? Are you there?"

"Yes, I'm here" he said slowly, still tottering on the brink of disbelief as he listened to a voice he hadn't heard in years. Hadn't ever expected to hear again. Not sure what else to say. Only feeling that it was better to let the person at the other end of the line continue the conversation.

"It's starting over" the voice repeated.

"Are you in any danger?"

"I'm not sure. But I need your help. I think there's a copycat out there."

"Where are you?" Ducky asked – reaching into the bedside drawer for a pen and some paper. "You're in Virginia?" he asked incredulously as he took down the details.

"Can you come?" the voice asked instead.

"I'll request time off in the morning" he replied. "I take it you'd like me to .. come alone?"

There was silence for a moment.

"It's better that way. I have to get back to work."

"Work? It's half past two in the morning."

"The dead never sleep, Ducky. They never stop talking to us. You taught me that. And when they talk we have to listen. At this time of the night there are no interruptions. It's when I do my best work. Will I see you in the morning?"

"Yes."

Ducky put the phone back in its cradle and lay back in bed. Contemplating how he was going to navigate this one.


	2. Chapter 2

"So what you're saying is that you think she was in his bed ..."

Abby's smiled mischievously.

"Exactly, McGee."

"He could've called her."

"You got the call at five a.m., and she was at the crime scene a few minutes after you guys. It takes a lot longer than fifteen minutes to get here from Maryland."

"True. So ... in his bed then."

"Most definitely in his bed" Abby said with a wicked grin.

"How long do you think it's been going on?"

"Two weeks."

"Since the whole deal with Javid came to light."

"Yes. But my feeling is he'd been thinking about calling her before then. Did you never wonder why he had _her _number _on his desk_?"

"Uh ... no?"

"McGee .." she whined. "Where's your romantic spirit? He'd been debating asking her out on a date."

"And you know this _how_?"

"Gah ... you're as bad as Gibbs" she said as she turned away.

"Okay. Lets say I buy your theory. How did he go to thinking about asking her on a date to having her in his bed in the space of two weeks."

"Excuse me" Abby said, twirling round in indignation. "First of all Ducky still has blood in his veins. Second, he is not fifteen. And neither is she. And third, it's not like they need to wait six months before they... you know .. do stuff. And on top of all that it was a trying time for Ducky. And we should be grateful that someone was there for him. That he _let _someone be there for him."

"Think Ducky still has it in him?"

Abby stared at him in disbelief.

"Of course. He isn't _that_ old. Jimmy says he's had a smile on his face all week."

"So you think they're ...."

"Most definitely."

"Well then ..." Tim said, raising his coffee and knocking it against her upheld caf-pow "to Ducky ..."

"And Dr. Hampton."

"Someone needs to be happy round here."

"Very true, McGee. Do you think I'll get to be a bridesmaid when he marries her?"

McGee choked on his coffee.

"Who said anything about him getting married?"

"Well he doesn't seem to be the type of man that would be in a serious relationship and not get married."

"What serious relationship? They've been together for two weeks ..." Tim protested. "And we're not even sure they're together."

Abby's face fell.

"What?" Tim asked.

"Maybe he's been hanging around Gibbs too long."

"_What?_" he replied, looking round in a moment of slight panic, expecting to find the boss standing right behind him.

"Gibbs is not a good influence. All he ever does is complain about his ex-wives and the institution of marriage. Does he ever even notice women anymore?"

"Oh _he does_..."

McGee gulped but Abby refused to be intimidated.

"When's the last time you went on a date?"

"Had a date this morning. With a dead body."

"I rest my case" Abby said as she turned back to her screen.

"Whatcha got Abs?"

"Apart from the fact that your date is Petty Officer Maria Bryce and that she'd been missing three days ... absolutely nothing. Yet. But I will have" she added as he came round to stand in front of her and stared at her through narrowed eyes.

"Better. Did Ducky say when he was coming back?"

Abby shrugged.

"Jimmy said that Dr. Hampton said he only asked her to step in for the day."

"Mmhmmm" Gibbs said as he pulled out his cell phone and dialled the medical examiner's number.

At the other end Ducky snapped off his gloves and picked his phone off the desk in the corner. He took one look at the caller id and held up the phone.

"Take it" his companion said.

He took a deep breath before answering the phone.

"Duck. Enjoying your day off?"

"What can I do for you, Jethro?" Ducky said slowly and carefully into the phone as he stepped away from the body.

"Everything okay?" Gibbs asked, immediately picking up on the fact that his question had been deflected.

"Everything's fine."

"Where are you?"

"Consulting with a friend."

"Uh-huh. At seven o'clock in the morning?"

"Dr. Hampton working out alright?" Ducky asked instead.

"Yeah. Enjoy your day off." Gibbs said before snapping his phone shut.

Ducky closed his phone, placed it back on the desk, and looked at the woman in front of him.

"Well that happened a lot faster than I thought it would" she said, looking at the clock. "It's only been two hours, and they have a case."

"I don't usually take off without explanations. Actually now that I think about it, I don't usually take off at all."

"I didn't mean to cause you problems, Ducky."

Ducky shook his head.

"You were right to call me. But you do know that it's only a matter of time before he pieces things together" he said carefully as he put a fresh pair of gloves on.

"Well hopefully this is a fluke and you'll be able to get back there before he decides that he isn't happy with the explanation you just gave him."

"We'll see" Ducky said as he went back to cataloguing the wounds on the body.

______________________________________

Gibbs found Jordan and Jimmy prepping for the autopsy on Petty Officer Bryce.

"Dr. Hampton .." he said by way of greeting.

"Please ... call me Jordan" she said with a smile she raised her eyes to the man hovering by her side. When he didn't return the smile she handed the scalpel over to Jimmy.

"Why don't you make the cut .."

"Really?" he replied, his eyes lighting up.

"Yes" she said encouragingly, before turning her attention back to Gibbs. "What can I do for you Agent Gibbs?"

"Ducky tell you where he was going?" he asked, observing her body language closely.

Jordan Hampton looked at him as though she couldn't understand why he was asking the question.

"He just said he was consulting with a friend."

"He tell you _where_?"

"Um ... yes. Fort Washington Medical Center."

"That in DC?"

Jordan Hampton shook her head.

"Maryland" she said. "What's going on?" she asked as Gibbs tossed his head back and threw a thanks in her direction before turning to walk out. "Agent Gibbs?"

"Probably nothing."

"_Probably_ nothing?" she asked, catching up with him just as he was about to get into the elevator.

Gibbs looked at her and gave her a tight smile.

"Is something going on?" she wanted to know.

"Nope" he said as the doors slid closed on her worried face.

But as he leaned back against the elevator walls he was pretty sure he'd just lied to her.


	3. Chapter 3

"I'm sorry I brought you all the way out here for nothing."

Ducky looked at her intently as pulled the protective faceguard over his head, but didn't say anything.

"It's a coincidence" she continued as she removed her own head gear. "The cases aren't connected."

"There is no such thing as a coincidence. Especially when it comes to murder."

"You sound exactly like _him_" she said as she turned away.

"And _you_ can't even bring yourself to say his name."

"I didn't ask you down here to have my head shrunk" she said acerbically.

Ducky moved across to her and placed a hand on her arm.

"Jenny ..." he began.

"I haven't gone by that name in nine years, Ducky" she said, turning to face him.

"I know" he said, his voice losing none of its gentle inflection. "And I know that the possibility of the nightmare starting all over again is not something you even want to contemplate. _But_ ..."

She shrugged out of his grasp and picked up the documentation.

"The only thing that's consistent here is the cutting and the blunt force trauma to the head that caused the eventual death. We found no evidence of rape or any kind of pentration, and no bodily fluids. And those were crucial last time."

"And yet that _cutting_ was very particular."

"And something which this killer could have picked up from any of a handful of websites. Jonas Mitchell's world has been dissected, examined, and adulated. There are hundreds of people out there who can tell you exactly what he did to his victims. How long he kept them. How he tortured them. How he killed them .."

"So you believe this is a random killing. In spite of the similarities, and in spite of the fact that of all the states in the all of the United States, this one came to you."

His companion stopped and looked at him.

"What's really bothering you Ducky?"

"That you don't know enough about this case to write it off like this. Look, going through normal channels could take .. weeks. Let me take samples back to NCIS. Our forensic scientist will at least -"

He trailed off when her cell phone rang.

"There's no need to involve NCIS. I have contacts" she said, holding up her phone before answering it. "Hey ..." she said into it, her voice softening. "Okay. I'm down here with Dr. Mallard. See you in a bit. Bye."

She closed the phone and paused before looking Ducky straight in the eye.

"I have a ... friend, who helps me out sometimes" she said with a slight blush.

"Jenny ... if this woman turns out to be a marine .."

"If she turns out to be a marine, I promise we will tell him. Jethro. _I_ will tell Jethro. But until that becomes a necessity we both know that he is better off left out of this."

"Jenny .. he would want to know."

"He almost lost his badge last time."

"He lost a lot more than that Jenny, and you know it."

"He moved on, Ducky."

"How would yo-"

Ducky's head snapped up, but his question was interrupted by the door to the morgue opening.

"Got here as soon as I could" a man in a dark suit said as he pulled her close and pressed a kiss to her forehead. "Godfrey Parker" he said, extending a hand to Ducky a moment later. "FBI."

"Donald Mallard" Ducky said as he returned the gesture. "I'm an old friend of Jenny's. A very old friend" he added when Godfrey snuck a look look at Jen.

"What's going on?" Godfrey asked. "You sounded rattled on the phone."

"I need an ID on this woman" Jen said, indicating the corpse on her steel table.

"God .." Godfrey said as he circled the body and took in the nature of her wounds.

"Fingerprints for you to run through AFIS, and .. other stuff" Jen said as she handed him a package.

"Right" Godfrey said as he took it from her. "I'll call you as soon as I have something. It'll take a few hours though. The tech doing me the favour is on the graveyard shift tonight."

"That's fine, Godfrey" Jen said with a smile that she made as bright as she could in spite of the anxiety gnawing at her insides.

Godfrey pressed a kiss to her cheek, and made to move to the door again. Only to stop and turn back just before after he'd reached for the handle.

"You're not fine at all are you?" he said, turning around. "What's going on here?"

Jen shared a look with the medical examiner.

"I ..."

"My cue to exit, I believe" Ducky said when the silence stretched and Godfrey showed no signs of giving up and going away. "I'll be back later."

Jen nodded before walking into the security of Godfrey's embrace.

"Your old name was _Jenny_?" Ducky heard the man ask as he closed the door behind them.

"Mmhmm" Jen replied. "Jenny Shepard."

______________________________________

Ducky had just walked out of the inner room an hour later when the sight of someone in autopsy stopped him short.

"Mr Palmer. I thought you'd be out for lunch."

Jimmy smiled sheepishly.

"We'd made it halfway there before Dr. Hampton realised she'd left her cell phone behind. I just came back down to get it for her."

"Ah" Ducky said, closing the file he'd been looking at.

"I thought you weren't coming back until tomorrow, Doctor."

"Yes, well ... I'm not really here. Just needed to check on a few things. That's all done now, so .. I'll be on my way."

Palmer looked down at the folder in his mentor's hand.

"I'll take that to the file room for you" he said as he extended his hand.

"No, no, no, no .. I'll take care of it" Ducky said.

"Jimmy, I found my phone. It was in my purse the whole – Ducky?"

Both men whirled round to find Jordan Hampton standing there.

"Jordan" Ducky said with a smile as she approached.

Palmer looked once at them before saying "I'll uh ... see you later" before slipping out of autopsy.

"Are you alright?" Jordan asked.

"Perfectly fine. Just on a tight schedule. Dropped in to check on something" he replied, as he pressed a small kiss to her lips and moved towards the door.

"Donald ..."

Ducky stopped and took a deep breath before turning back to her.

"Can we talk about this later?" he asked as she stepped into his personal space.

"Everything's fine?" she said.

"Right as rain" he said, leaning in to kiss her.

He stared at her for a moment, wishing he could tell her more. Almost sure he wasn't fooling her.

"Will I see you later?" she asked as she straightened his bowtie.

"I do believe there are two Omaha steaks with our names written on them in the refrigerator" he replied. "See you round eight?"

"Eight" Jordan echoed, raising her hand in a slight wave as the autopsy suite doors swished open to let him out.

_____________________________________________________________

"Hey ... got your message. What's up?" McGee said as he walked into the lab.

"Oh McGee" she said, throwing herself into his arms.

"Abby?"

"I think Ducky's -"

"You get me what I wanted?" Gibbs asked as he sauntered in.

"Yes."

"And?"

"It's not good, Gibbs" she said, wiping her runny nose on her sleeve as she pulled a website onto the plasma. "_Fort Washington Medical Center_ has no medical examiner. But it does have _specialties_."

"Which are?"

"Infection isolation room, pain management, and ... end-of-life services."

McGee sucked in a breath.

"You don't think .."

"He said he was consulting with a friend, McGee and ... I checked ... the guy who runs the end-of-life Services program graduated from the University of Edinburgh with Ducky."

"Maybe it's about his mother" McGee offered. "Alzheimer's is ultimately a terminal disease."

"The rest home would have that covered" Gibbs said. "It has nothing to do with his mother."

"Well he can't be there about infection isolation" McGee pointed out. "Which leaves ..."

"Pain management, or the ... other one ... for him" Abby said as she wrapped her arms around herself.

"What's going on?" Palmer said as he walked into the lab.

"Palmer ..." Gibbs said, turning to the new arrival. "Notice anything different about Ducky lately?"

"Apart from the fact that he's grinning like a ... never mind. Different _how_?"

"He seem edgy to you?"

"I ..uh ... yeah. He seemed very edgy right now."

"Ducky's here?"

"Yeah. I left him in autopsy with Jordan. Uh .. Dr. Hampton. He was looking at some notes and he ... he ... seemed .."

But Gibbs was already on his way out the door.

He caught up with Ducky in the parking garage as the latter was about to get into the Morgan.

"Leaving already?"

The medical examiner straightened instinctively at the sound of his voice.

"Jethro" he said, looking straight at him. "Something wrong?"

"Well" Gibbs said slowly, "you tell me. I thought we didn't keep secrets from each other."

Something he couldn't decipher flashed across Ducky's face.

"Let me guess that Abby discovered something and came to you. I shouldn't be surprised. She goes to you with everything."

"She cares about you. And she's worried."

"About _me_?"

"This _consult_ at the Fort Washington Medical Center. It's personal."

Ducky let out a small nervous laugh.

"Abby allows her emotions to cloud her judgement. She jumps to a conclusion."

"You telling me you're not sick, Ducky?"

"I'm in perfect health for a man of my age."

"Then what is it you _are_ telling me?"

"That there's a reason sleeping dogs are left to lie, Jethro. Now if you'll excuse me ..."

He opened the door to the Morgan and slipped inside. As he turned the key and drove out of the parking lot Gibbs followed him with his eyes. Once he was out of sight he pulled out his phone.

"Abs" he said. "Triangulate his cell. I want to know where he's going."

Ducky took a deep breath as he pulled out of the subterranean parking lot and into the sunlight. Confident in the knowledge that he'd given Jethro more than enough to make him suspicious.


	4. Chapter 4

Ducky stood behind Jen as she sat at her desk.

"The age correlates. So do the sex, and the place the body was discovered."

"The first body was dumped in D.C., Ducky" Jen corrected.

"I mean the _same kind_ of place, Jenny. The cuttings are exactly the same, and cause of death was trauma to the head."

"And as we've discussed before the killer could have found that information anywhere."

"We'll see .." Ducky said, as he continued to go over his old case notes.

"You really believe this is a copycat killing, don't you?" she asked grimly.

"The second victim turned up twenty-four hours after the first one, Jenny."

Jen looked at her watch.

"The body was found at seven pm last night. It is now six o'clock. So ... you're hanging around to say _I told you_ so if another one turns up?"

Ducky looked at her and smiled.

"Not _if_, Jenny. _When_."

Jen shivered and got up from her seat.

"In that case I'd better order some dinner."

"Dinner ..."

"What is it?" Jen asked in concern as she saw the way his face fell.

But Ducky shook his head minutely and pulled out his phone.

"Jordan .." he said as she picked up at the other end.

_____________________________________________

Gibbs walked into the lab feeling as pissed off as he looked.

"Hey, Gibbs. Are you a fan of S-H-C?"

"Is that a band?"

"No. Spontaneous human combustion."

"Don't waste my time, Abs."

"I take it the interrogation did not go well" Abby said as she looked over Gibbs' shoulder to where McGee trailed him.

McGee shook his head.

"Doubt he's our guy" he said.

"If you ever read my Master's thesis, you may become a believer."

"What've we got, Abby?"

"Right. Definitely _not_ spontaneous human combustion.

"You find out what caused the explosion?"

"Why else would you be here?"

"Let's see it, Abs."

She pulled a diagram onto the plasma as she launched into her explanation.

"Based on the condition of the body, the burn patterns, and the debris scatter, I was able to recreate the explosion. Dr. Hampton gave me epidermal scrapings from the victim's upper left torso. And the spectrometer found minute traces of antimony sulfide and potassium chlorate on both."

"Matches?"

"Light my fire, McGee!"

"Someone struck a match and ignited the oxygen" Gibbs said.

"Bingo!" Abby said.

"We any closer to finding out who did it?"

"Um ... no. But I'm working on it."

"You do that" Gibbs said. Pausing slightly before adding, "You get me that thing I wanted?"

Abby's eyes snapped to his.

"Yes" she said slowly, bringing something else up on to the screen. "He's at the _Naval Medical Center_. Portsmouth, Virginia."

"So he's really consulting on a case then" McGee said.

"But if it's for the Navy why wouldn't he say anything to us?" Abby countered.

"Pull up the staff list."

"I've already cross checked ... nobody from Ducky's past. The medical examiner is a Dr. Alex Anderson."

"Does the name mean anything to you, Boss?"

Gibbs shook his head.

"Keep working on the Bryce case" he said irritably as he turned to leave.

He'd got as far as the door when he turned back.

"Abs .." he said slowly. "Pull up records of all the deaths recorded in Portsmouth this week."

"One moment" she said as her fingers flew over the keys. "Here we go. One suicide, one overdose, two murders. The most recent one was last ni- Gibbs?"

But Gibbs was staring at the screen. His eyes taking in the few details available. For a moment he felt his blood ran cold. And then his eyes narrowed.

"What is it?" Abby asked carefully.

"Someone got out of witness protection" was all he said before he left the lab.

The moment he left Abby's fingers flew over the keyboard again.

"Here we are. Alex Anderson. Check this out" she said to McGee when she found what she was looking for.

"Oh boy" he said when he took in the woman on the driver's license that Abby had up on the screen.

"According to everything I can pull on her there should be no connection between her and Ducky. Or her and Gibbs."

"Other than the fact that she works at the Naval Center."

"She's only worked there for a few years."

"Where did she work before that?"

"I have no idea."

____________________________________

"So are you going to tell me about _Jordan_?" Jen said with a teasing smile.

"Ah ... yes ... well .."

"Are you _blushing_ Ducky?" she said, elbowing him gently before taking his hands into hers. "Have you found someone special?"

"I think so" he replied.

"I'm glad" she responded with genuine happiness for him. "Because you deserve it."

"And young Godfrey?"

"_Young_ being the operative word" she said with a smile as she rose from her seat.

"Should I ask how you two met?"

"I helped him solve a case a few years ago. When he was still a rookie."

"And he's since risen in the ranks and remained in your debt?"

Jenny smiled at his subtle request for information.

"It's complica-" she had just started to say when her desk phone rang.

Her eyes cut to Ducky's as she listened to what the other person had to say.

"Body on its way down" she said.

Ducky looked at his watch.

"Twenty-four hours" he said after he'd let out a long breath.

A short while later they were bent over the new arrival, classifying injuries and cross-referencing them to the ones in the original cases.

The air between them was tense, and it was a while before Ducky risked a look at his companion. As focused as she was on their mutual task, and as efficient as she was, he knew what was wrong. He reached across the body and placed his hand on hers.

"Jenny ..." he began slowly.

But he never got to finish his sentence, because Godfrey Parker let himself into autopsy, unannounced.

"Private First Class Patty MacNamara" he said as he came round to Jen's side. "Nobody had even realised she was missing yet."

"That was fast" Jen said as she removed her gloves and took the packet from him. "I thought your tech friend was on graveyard shift tonight."

"Leaned on someone who owed me a bigger favour and .. wow ... " Godfrey replied as he circled the table and looked at the victim. "Wow. You were right. This is identical to the old cases isn't it?"

Ducky cleared his throat and looked at Jenny.

"Almost" he said, when she didn't say anything.

_________________________________________________

Gibbs sat in his car, his gut churning, his thoughts spiralling. There was only one possible person Ducky would stick his neck out like this for.

His hand rested on the steering wheel, his mind on the past.

"_Jen" he said, touching her gently. Drawing her back from wherever her thoughts had taken her._

_She'd said very little in the past hour or so, and he couldn't say he blamed her. He had no idea what to say either._

_Jen turned her face away from the window of the little coffee shop, and her eyes fell on a woman she assumed was her case handler._

"_It's time" the woman said, her eyes kind."Do you have any questions?"_

_Jen shook her head._

"_You understand that under no circumstances can you divu-.."_

_Jen cut her off with a wave of her hand._

"_I know."_

"_Then we need to get going."_

"_I need a few minutes."_

"_We'll be waiting in the car. Agent Gibbs ..." the woman acknowledged as she moved away._

"_Walk with me?" Jen asked as she stood from her chair and slipped into her coat._

"_Jen ..." he said as they stepped into the frigid air together._

"_Don't" she said, reaching up to press a finger to his lips._

_But he pulled her finger away._

"_I will get him."_

_His eyes closed as she walked into his arms and he inhaled her scent._

"_I know you will" she whispered. But it was a hoarse whisper and he knew she was barely holding herself together. "But until then I just have to look at the reality in front of me and accept it. And so do you."_

_He tightened his grip on her. Being stripped from everyone and everything she held dear had never been part of the plan. And yet this was where it had landed her. Almost as though she could read his thoughts she raised a hand to his face._

"_We both know you can't always control the outcome, Jethro."_

_She silenced anything he might have said by brushing her lips against his. And that's when reality asserted it with grim finality. This was likely the last time he'd be seeing the woman in his arms. He'd known too much loss not to know what it would feel like once she was gone from his life and he had no way of contacting her. All the other loss in his life had been permanent, but Jenny would be alive. Out there somewhere .. but lost to him anyway. The fingers of one hand wound into her hair as he pulled her impossibly closer and poured all he felt for her into his kiss. When she pulled away he looked at her as his thumb swiped a solitary tear from her cheek. But the words still wouldn't come._

"_We need to go, Jenny" a voice behind her said._

_Jen gave a tight nod, and leaned forward once more. She pressed one last hard kiss to his mouth and stepped away from him._

"_This is for you to read when I'm gone" she said, stuffing something into his coat pocket._

"_Jenny .." he called after her._

_As she turned round he was sure that the broken look in her eyes would be with him for years to come._

"_Fair wind and following seas."_

_He watched as she stepped into the car and the US Marshall closed the door. When she was gone he pulled out the envelope she'd placed in his pocket. The words were few – but he had no doubt what she'd meant by them._

_**You have a life ahead of you. Live it.**_

___________________________________________

Ducky waited until Godfrey had left the morgue with a new set of fingerprints in his possession. As he placed his hat on his head, he pulled his cell phone from his pocket.

"Speed dial one" he said gently. "I believe you have a promise to keep. I'll go and find us some dinner. It really is going to be a long night."

As the door clicked shut behind him, Jen took a deep breath and took a few steps towards the phone. She couldn't even begin to imagine what it would be like to hear his voice at the other end of the line, or to actually be near him again. But Ducky was right. She'd given her word. And copycat killing or not, the incontrovertible fact that yesterday's victim had been a Marine dropped matters into the lap of NCIS. And the case would go to Jethro. It was useless putting off the inevitable.

Unbidden, memories rose. Memories she'd worked long and hard to suppress.

_She wished they were anywhere but this small, silent, out of the way coffee shop. She wished they'd chosen somewhere vibrant and full of colour instead of this drab place with faded upholstery. Somewhere in her head it felt like it was a portent. A symbol of her future. She could have done without it. She'd wanted him to stay behind too. To let her go at her residence once she'd closed it up and given away the keys. But he hadn't shown any inclination to let her go alone, and she hadn't had the heart to suggest it. She wondered how much longer she'd be able to keep up the facade that she was strong and unafraid._

"_Jen" he said, touching her gently. _

_Drawing her back to reality. She knew she'd said very little in the past hour or so – but then neither had he. What was there to say, really? She turned her face away from the window of the little coffee shop, and her eyes fell on a woman she assumed was her case handler._

"_It's time" the woman said, her eyes kind. "Do you have any questions?"_

_Jen shook her head._

"_You understand that under no circumstances can you divu-.."_

_Jen cut her off with a wave of her hand._

"_I know."_

"_Then we need to get going."_

"_I need a few minutes."_

_She needed a lifetime, but a few minutes were all she was going to get._

"_We'll be waiting in the car. Agent Gibbs ..." the woman acknowledged as she moved away._

"_Walk with me?" she asked as she stood from her chair and slipped into her coat._

"_Jen ..." he said as they stepped into the frigid air together._

"_Don't" she said, reaching up to press a finger to his lips. She didn't think she could bear to hear whatever it was he had to say._

_But he pulled her finger away._

"_I will get him."_

_She felt him tremble as she walked into his arms, and the only thing she knew to do was to hold him close._

"_I know you will" she whispered, fighting for control. "But until then I just have to look at the reality in front of me and accept it. And so do you."_

_She felt him tightenen his grip on her. Knew that this hurt him as much as it hurt her. Perhaps more. Because he was the one being left behind. Again. She raised a hand to his face._

"_We both know you can't always control the outcome, Jethro" she said as she brushed her lips against his. _

_Letting him draw her into a real kiss, even though she'd promised herself after the intensity of being with him the night before that she wouldn't allow it to happen. She didn't try to hold back the tear that escaped her. When she pulled away he looked at her as his thumb swiped a solitary tear from her cheek. She could see him struggling for words that wouldn't come, but she didn't help him out. Certain things were better left unsaid when there was no foreseeable future._

"_We need to go, Jenny" a voice behind her said._

_Jen gave a tight nod, and leaned forward once more. She pressed one last hard kiss to his mouth and stepped away from him._

"_This is for you to read when I'm gone" she said, stuffing something into his coat pocket._

"_Jenny .." he called after her. "Fair wind and following seas."_

_She felt her heart break._

_She looked back as the US Marshall drove her away from him and from life as she knew it. And as she did she wondered about the few words she'd left for him to read, and whether he'd read between the lines and understand that she meant for him to let her go._

As she pressed a finger to the number she faltered. But there was no going back. She waited a few seconds and then depressed the button with a lot more conviction than she felt.

"Yeah ... Ducky .."

"Jethro ..."

The silence that fell chilled her to the bone.

"It's Jenny."

"Where are you, Jen?"

"I .. I'm at work" she said, responding to the worry in his tone.

"In your morgue?"

"How do you know where I work?"

"If you open the door I'll tell you."

The idea that after nine long years only a swathe of plywood separated them seemed ridiculous to her. But as she swung the door open to find him standing there, the only thing that made her way past her lips was "Hello Jethro."


	5. Chapter 5

"Is this going to take long?" Tony asked as he sailed into the lab.

"Is there somewhere else you need to be?" Ziva asked tersely.

"If it's any of your business, yes" he replied. "I do have somewhere I need to be. I have dinner reservations. At _Marcel's_."

"You may want to cancel them" McGee said as he indicated the plasma.

"What's going on?" Tony asked, losing the cockiness the moment his eyes fell on the slideshow of old crime scene photos that Abby was running.

"Did you know that Gibbs was on probation for a year?" she asked.

"When?"

"Nine years ago."

"Do you know why?"

"This. I think."

"Punishment perhaps" Ziva said. "But for what?"

Abby shrugged.

"All I know for sure is that at the end of his year of probation Gibbs was sent to Moscow on assignment. When he came back he was involved in bringing down this man. This is Jonas Mitchell" she said as she brought up a mugshot of a tall dark-haired man.

_"Gibbs_ arrested Jonas Mitchell?" McGee asked in awe.

"Who is Jonas Mitchell?" Ziva asked, looking between Abby and McGee.

"Jonas Mitchell was a surgeon who tortured and killed several women over a period of two months" Abby explained. "He was brought to trial in August of ninety-nine. But he walked."

"I remember that case" McGee said. "There were huge national protests. Mitchell was a surgical oncologist. One of the best. People came from all over the country to be diagnosed and operated on by him. He had his own clinic, with satellite offices all over the East coast."

"What can you find out about why he walked?" Tony asked.

"Closed trial" Abby said. "There is ... nothing. I can't even access the transcripts."

"Which can only mean that there was a material witness who needed protecting" Tony said.

"So Gibbs just happened to break the case over two years later?" Ziva asked.

"This came up on my radar yesterday" Abby said, ignoring her question and pulling up what she'd shown Gibbs earlier. "From what I can see it's the same kind of crime."

"Except that Mitchell was given three life sentences with no chance of parole" McGee added.

"So you think Gibbs was involved in Mitchell's apprehension nine years ago" Ziva said.

"It would make sense. Timeline fits, and Mitchell's first victim was a marine" McGee explained. "His last two as well."

"More than enough reason for Gibbs to be involved" Tony pointed out.

"But we're talking about murders over two years apart" Ziva observed. "And it's been another .. what .. seven since Gibbs put Mitchell away?"

Abby shrugged.

"All I know is that someone called Ducky this morning" she said as she brought up his cell phone records. "The call traces back to the _Naval Medical Center_ in Portsmouth, Virginia. He's been there all day."

"So you think Ducky too was involved in the old case " Ziva pressed. "And that he's involved in the new one."

"Ducky's been with NCIS at least seventeen years. It makes sense that he would have been involved in any case nine years ago. But he didn't tell Gibbs where he was going" McGee added, recounting the events earlier in the day.

"Where is Gibbs now?" Tony wanted to know.

Abby triangulated his cell.

"Naval Medical Center" she breathed in concern when the location popped up on her screen.

"What's the connection here?"

Abby looked at McGee, who noddded.

"_She is_" she said as she pulled Alex Anderson's driver's licence up onto the screen. "I think this is the material witness in the case nine years ago."

Tony took one look at the woman on the screen, and ran a hand across his face. Then he looked at McGee.

"Put together whatever you need to set up down there. Perhaps in more than one location. Abby, work your magic, get those transcripts. "

"Are you sure this is a good idea, Tony?" McGee asked nervously.

Tony looked at him for a long moment, and when he spoke there was no hint of amusement in his tone.

"The names Kate and Maddie Tyler ring any bells, probie?"

"Um .. yes .."

"Gibbs is a like a bulldog, Mcgee. He's programmed to bite down and not let go. Now I don't know what went down nine years ago to send him off the grid enough to be put on probation, but I do know the difference between nine years ago and today. And the difference is we have Gibbs' back. Lets roll."

_____________________________________________

"Hello Jethro."

Gibbs stared at her. Nine long years and he still felt the pull of the green eyes which stared back at him. Her expression was carefully masked after the initial wide eyed surprise he'd seen when she'd pulled the door open, but the eyes were as mesmerising as ever.

"Jen …" he returned, his voice a lot lower than he intended.

The tension was palpable as she stood aside and let him in, and he wished for the time when they'd been able to speak freely around each other. When the awkwardness that surrounded them now didn't exist.

"Should we skip the _You haven't changed a bit_ bull?"

That brought his head up sharply. Neither the tone nor the choice of words matched the Jenny he had known nine years ago – and he found himself wondering what else had changed. Found himself almost apprehensive. For a second he thought he saw a hint of regret shine through her eyes, but it was gone so fast that he wasn't sure what she was regretting. Or if she was regretting anything at all.

He looked at her again as she cleared her throat.

"So…" she started and trailed off.

All the things she wanted to say sounded over the top and all the things she should say sounded meaningless to her.

"You okay?" he said, after a long moment of silence.

Gibbs watched her press her lips together. A gesture that he had seen a hundred times and still made his stomach clench all these years later.

"We never could lie to each other Jethro" she said at length.

His name felt unfamiliar on her lips, and she could feel his eyes on them. But he moved suddenly. Over to the body. As he walked around it she took the opportunity to study him. His hair was lighter, there were a few more lines of his face, and he looked like he had more weight on his shoulders. But under all of that it was still the same Jethro who had loved her. Still the same Jethro she occasionally dreamt about.

"Time frame the same?" he asked, looking up and finding her watching him.

"Yes."

"First victim a marine?"

She nodded as she passed him the package that Godfrey had brought.

"Why didn't you call me Jen?" he asked, putting the folder down and looking straight at her.

"Don't make this difficult, Jethro" she said gently.

"Fair enough" he said, going back to the folder. "The FBI involved in this?"he asked after a few minutes of going through the paperwork they'd compiled so far.

"They sure are."

They turned round to find Godfrey Parker standing there.

"I wasn't expecting you back so soon" Jen said, half grateful for the interruption.

"Godfrey Parker, FBI" the agent said, holding out his hand.

"Gibbs, NCIS" he replied, not offering his hand in return.

Godfrey looked levelly at him before lowering his hand. Shooting a reassuring smile at Jen as he did so.

"How're you holding up?" he whispered as he placed an arm around her shoulders and pulled her into his side.

"I'm tired" she said, pulling away when the embrace went on longer then she was comfortable with.

"This falls under NCIS jurisdiction" Gibbs said as he put the file down.

"Actually it's going to be a shared investigation" Godfrey said, a small smile on his face.

"Last time I checked Patty MacNamara was a marine."

"And Yvonne Prince" Godfrey said, indicating the body on the table "was married to an FBI agent."

"The second victim last time was a convenience store clerk at a 7-11" Jen said, doublechecking with Ducky's notes.

"Where was she found?" Gibbs asked, nodding at Prince.

"Behind the 7-11 on Mount Vernon Avenue."

"How far?"

"2.63 miles."

"Same kind of place. Any 7-11s that are closer?"

Godfrey shook his head.

"The one on Frederick Boulevard is 2.7 miles away, and the one on Airline Boulevard is 3.1 miles away."

"What are you trying to say, Jethro?" Jen asked.

"He's saying that the drop was made close enough to ensure the body would come here" Godfrey answered for him.

"What was she doing at the 7-11?" Gibbs pressed.

Godfrey watched him closely, and a wry smile spread over his mouth as he recognised the pressure that the older agent was bringing to bear.

"You know, Agent Gibbs, I am not quite sure how you figure into all this, but this has just become personal for the FBI. I will say one thing though. If this is going to be a pissing match I sure hope you brought an umbrella."

"What was she doing at the 7-11?" Gibbs repeated without taking the bait that was so clearly on offer.

"Her brother works there" Godfrey said after a long beat. "Yvonne's husband said she brought him dinner when he worked the night shift. The kid was diabetic and she wanted to make sure he ate properly."

"You get a staff roster?"

"In the packet" Godfrey said drily.

Gibbs slipped his glasses on and scanned the sheet of paper.

"There's nothing personal here. At least for the FBI."

"What do you mean?" Godfrey asked, more than a bit put out.

"She wasn't targeted because she was FBI. If you'd bothered to look at this, the first thing that would have jumped out at you is that there were no women on the roster. The pattern called for a 7-11 female employee. Killer was working on a tight schedule, went for the next best thing. A female relative of an employee."

Godfrey reined in his anger with difficulty.

"Don't dismiss me, Agent Gibbs."

"Not dismissing you" Gibbs said. "Just making you aware that we don't have much time. If these are copycat killings and the killer is following the pattern, then we'll be looking at another body in a few days."

"The aren't copycat killings."

"You've been holding out on me, Doctor" Gibbs said slowly as he turned towards the new arrival.

"Yes, Agent Gibbs, I have" the medical examiner said, as he placed a paper bag on the desk and approached slowly. "So consider this a sop to Cerberus" he added with a small smile as he handed him a coffee.

"Care to illuminate me, Duck?" Gibbs asked as he took the cup from him.

But Ducky turned to Jen.

"You haven't told him, have you?"

Jen shook her head.

"I know you saw it too, Jenny."

Jen took a few steps forward and opened her mouth to speak. But the words wouldn't come. Ducky looked at her for a moment longer and then patted her arm.

"We were wrong" he said slowly.

"About what?"

"Jonas Mitchell."

"The hell we were" Gibbs snapped.

Ducky led him to the body.

"Do you remember the disparity between the first set of torture marks and the second?"

"Yeah. The second set were slightly different than the first."

"And the third, and the fifth, and the seventh."

"The guy was ambidextrous, Duck. It was one of the things that led Jenny to suspect he was a surgeon in the first place. He switched hands every time to confuse us. Because he could."

"What _distinguished_ the lefthanded cuts was not merely the cant of the knife, Jethro. They were also more sadistic. Only slightly – but something that a medical examiner is trained to see. There were ... _details_ .. that were never released in our reports because there was enough panic in the district as it was."

"Your point, Duck?"

"If this were a copycat killer following a pattern, the cuttings would have been righthanded first, and then lefthanded."

His eyes cut to Jen again, and he carried on when she remained silent.

"Both bodies were cut by someone holding the knife in their left hand, Jethro. And the signature markings from the second, fourth, sixth, and eighth killings are present."

"You telling me he had an accomplice, Ducky? And that he's still out there?"


	6. Chapter 6

"If a killer has crossed state lines this is now a matter for the FBI" Godfrey said, stepping up behind them.

Gibbs didn't bother to turn round as he answered.

"Considering my M.E. currently has his hands on the body, I think we can safely say _not gonna happen_."

Godfrey opened his mouth to retort, but Jen placed a hand on his arm gently and shook her head.

"You're sure about this?" Gibbs asked.

"Unlike the living, Jethro" Ducky replied, "when the dead speak they do not lie."

Gibbs ran a hand across his face. And then he turned to Jen. He said nothing, but the message was clear.

"No" she said, backing away from him slightly.

"Jen ..." he said, moving towards her as she continued to retreat.

"No, Jethro. I am not giving up my job again. I am not giving up my home, I am not giving up my life, I'm not giving up anything. If this bastard wants me he's going to have to be man enough to come get me."

"You need to be protected, Alex. Jen" Godfrey corrected.

For a moment Gibbs felt a rush of sympathy for the young agent, because he visibly shrank from the look that Jen levelled at him.

"I can protect myself" she said vehemently.

"This isn't a discussion, Jen" Gibbs said as he pulled out his cell phone and hit one of his speed dial buttons. "Di Nozzo!" he snapped when the agent answered. "Where are you?"

"Right behind you, Boss."

Godfrey and Jen stared as the team piled into the already-crowded room.

"I teach them to anticipate" Gibbs said with a shrug when their stare shifted to him.

"Nice of you to join us."

"Wouldn't have missed it for the world, Ducky" Tony said, returning his smile.

"Where do you want these, Boss?" McGee asked, indicating the two metal cases full of equipment he'd brought along.

"One set here, the other at her house. Jenny Shepard, meet Di Nozzo, McGee, Ziva" Gibbs said, pointing each one of them out. "They will be your perpetual shadow from now till we get to the bottom of this. Groups of two. Eight hour shifts. One inside, one outside. At all times."

As he continued to bark out orders as though she wasn't even in the room, Jen felt the tight ball that had been coiling in her stomach for the past twenty-four odd hours unravel in a blaze of anger and frustration. She pushed her way past McGee, practically knocking him over as she left the room. For a moment everyone in the room froze. Ducky looked once at Gibbs and made to follow her. But Godfrey stopped him.

"I'll go" he said gently.

"Hey .." he said, when he found her standing by the water fountain.

Jen rested her forehead against the wall and closed her eyes. Godfrey put his hands on her shoulders and kneaded the tight muscles there.

"Alex or Jenny?" he asked softly as he felt her relax minutely.

"I don't know" she said honestly. "I don't know who I am anymore."

"You know exactly who you are."

"Do I?" she said, turning to look at him.

"You're a medical examiner who's crucial to an investigation."

"God ..." she said, turning away from him again.

"What?"

"Is that line in some kind of federal agent manual?"

"It's him, isn't it?"

"What?"

"Agent Gibbs. It's him. The man you were involved with before you went into witness protection."

Jen bit down hard on her lower lip and nodded.

"Godfrey .."

Godfrey shook his head and smiled sadly.

"You know how I feel about you, Alex. But there's a reason I've never pressured you for a real relationship in all the years we've been seeing each other. Why I've always gone along with your _friend with benefits_ scenario."

Jen looked at him curiously and he shrugged.

"You may have called me Jethro once or twice while .. you know ..."

"Oh God" Jen said, as her hand flew to her mouth.

"It's okay. Well, not okay, but I knew the moment I met you that there were things in your past that you were never going to let go of. And he's broadcasting loud and clear, so .."

Jen smiled.

"I wouldn't worry about Jethro" she said as she patted his arm. "He has a job to do. And it's been nine -"

"Then let him do his job. Let me do mine. We can't do it properly if we're worrying about your safety. Yvonne's family deserve whatever closure we can get for them. Whatever there may have been between you and Gibbs it's in the past, and however much you may have changed since you knew him, he has your best interests at heart. If his people were a few steps behind him they're worth their salt. Take the protection NCIS is offering you. Please."

Jen was silent for a moment.

"Only because you asked nicely" she said with a small smile on her face.

"Whatever works, right?" Godfrey said with a broad grin as moved to hug her.

Jen hugged him back tightly, and let him lead her back to the morgue. Gibbs looked up as they re-entered the room. He didn't say anything, but when his eyes met Godfrey's the younger agent saw something that hadn't been there earlier. Recognition. He nodded slightly in return, and Gibbs turned his attention to Jen.

"You ready to go?" was all he said.

"I am" she said, as she moved to retrieve her coat from the hat stand.

"McGee, Ziva, first shift. McGee. Sweep, set up, sit outside. Call me when you're done. Ziva, you're on the inside. Di Nozzo, you're with me."

He looked at Jen, trying to find the right thing to say. But she merely slipped into her coat and stood by the door. Waiting. Godfrey pressed a kiss to the side of her head and said something to her which the others couldn't hear. When she nodded he let her go, and she followed Ziva out of the office with a "See you in the morning" tossed in Ducky's general direction.

When the door had closed behind them Godfrey turned to them.

"I can offer you my apartment" he said.

"Than-" Tony started to say. Until he caught Gibbs' expression.

"Work to do."

"Right" Tony said. "Work to do."

"Ducky, you go with Agent Parker. Get some rest. Be back here at oh-eight-hundred."

"Eat dinner, Jethro" Ducky said, patting the paper bag he'd brought in earlier. "I brought your favourite."

"How'd he know you'd come?" Tony asked when the door closed behind the two men. "Right ... forget I asked" he continued when Gibbs picked stared at him in a way that invited no further questions along those lines.

Gibbs pulled out his cell phone.

"Abs .." he said when she answered. "You still at the lab?"

"Gibbs! You okay?" she added tentatively when she realised that the others must have arrived already.

"What are you working on?"

"The equipment was finally released from the hospital, Gibbs. The EKG and the Idle Air Control valve recycle at timed intervals, and I was able to salvage the last seven minutes of Petty Officer Bryce's vitals. I thought perhaps Dr. Hampton could use them."

"When that's done I need you to get into the prison system. Attica Correctional facility."

"Jonas Mitchell."

"I want you to find out who he's been in touch with. Who he emails, who emails him back. Whether he's in touch with anyone who maintains an internet site for him. One of those ... whatchamacallthem ..."

"Webmasters. But it's going to be a problem, Gibbs."

"Not what I want to hear, Abs."

"It's going to be a problem because Attica is considered a maximum security facility. Prisoners have no internet access. At all."

When Gibbs didn't come back with anything she carried on.

"Tony asked me to get the transcrips from Mitchell's trial in ninety-nine. Do we need them?"

"No" Gibbs said firmly. "But I need you to do something else for me."

"Anything" said Abby, registering the slight change in his tone. Knowing instinctively that this was personal.

"In the morning I want you to call this number" he said as he rattled one off at her. "Tell the woman who answers that Agent Gibbs needs his usual favour."

"That's it?" she said as she took the number down.

"Yeah. Good work on the Bryce case, Abs. Now go home and get some sleep. I'm gonna need you on this one."

"Are you sure you're okay, Gibbs?"

"Night, Abs" was all he said before he snapped his phone shut. "Di Nozzo! Lets go."

"Go where, Boss?" Tony asked, halfway through a box of take out.

"Crime scene."

____________________________________

**Author's note:**

I am stopping this chapter here because real life has come calling and I can't ignore it. Will try and get to chapter seven later on, but am not making any promises. It is more likely to be tomorrow.


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's note:**

The parts in _italics_ parts are _backstory._ I decided to mix them in with the 'real time' story to make things a bit easier for myself. Hope it's not too confusing.

___________________________________________________

"You have questions, Mr. Parker" Ducky observed the following morning as the young agent pulled up to the hospital entrance.

"That obvious?"

"How long have you known Jenny?"

"Coming up on four years. What?" he continued when Ducky smiled.

"This is more than a working arrangement. You like her. Or should I say you're in love with her?"

"Can you blame me?"

"Does the lady return the sentiment?"

Godfrey put the car into neutral.

"She says she's too old for me."

"Eleven years is not exactly a negligible amount."

"She says I should spend more time with women my age."

"And do you?"

"I try. But none of them are as interesting."

"Or as beautiful."

"That too."

"What's _really_ on your mind?" Ducky asked after a moment's silence.

"How serious were things with Agent Gibbs?" the younger man asked bluntly - not seeing any reason to beat round the bush.

Ducky paused, not sure how to put what he wanted to say into words. Ultimately he decided that it wasn't his place to divulge anything.

"I'm afraid you'll have to ask Jenny about that" he said.

"Jenny isn't much of a talker. Except to the dead. She talks to _them_ a lot."

Ducky gave a proud smile as he opened the car door.

"She learned that from me" he said as he stepped out. "Are you coming in?"

"I told Jenny I'd drop you off and pick up breakfast for everyone. So I'll and catch up with you later" Godfrey said.

"Righto" Ducky said as he closed the car door and headed for the entrance.

Gibbs was on the phone when he entered Jenny's morgue.

"Di Nozzo just walked into the lobby" he said before closing the phone. "They're on their way down."

"Jethro ..." Ducky began.

But Gibbs shook his head.

"Save it, Duck."

The medical examiner looked at him closely but did as he was told.

"What have we here?" he said instead as he moved over to a gurney in the middle of the room.

"Body showed up ten minutes ago" Gibbs said. "Not connected."

"An _execution_" Ducky mused as he unzipped the body bag and found himself looking at an Asian male with a gunshot wound in the middle of his forehead.

"That's the third one this month."

"Good morning" Ducky said as Jen peered over his shoulder at the body.

"A good morning is one where I come in and there hasn't been a delivery like this" she said as she took off her coat.

"Any leads?" Gibbs asked, surprising her with a coffee to match his own.

"None."

He stared at her when she didn't move to take the cup from him.

"You don't drink this stuff anymore?"

"No" she said slowly.

Gibbs looked her for a moment, and then nodded. In one fluid motion he turned to the trash can and disposed of the coffee.

"Who's on the case?" he asked, his voice betraying none of the surprise he felt.

"Local Leos" she said as she reached for the paperwork that had come with the corpse. She relieved Gibbs of his coffee cup and took a long sip as she scanned the paper for an ID. "Well, Dr. Li, lets see what you can tell us, huh?"

She licked her lips slowly and took another long sip before handing the cup back, very conscious of the fact that Gibbs was observing her intently. She knew enough to know that he was waiting for an explanation.

"Yours always did taste better" she whispered.

She'd come in determined to ease the awkwardness between them, but the coffee had thrown her. She hadn't been expecting him to bring her any, and her instinctive reaction had been to tell the truth. She didn't drink coffee anymore. It was too painful a reminder of what she'd lost. But she certainly hadn't been expecting him to trash it the moment she'd turned it down. She maintained eye contact, waiting to see what his response would be. There was nothing for a long beat, and then amusement danced in his eyes. As a small smile graced his features Jen felt the tightness in her chest lighten. For a moment the spectre of their past rose to haunt them, and it was easier to turn away than face it; especially with an audience present. But the awkwardness had been dispelled - and for the moment that was all that mattered.

"Jethro" Ducky began slowly, "there is the matter of _Agent Parker_ .."

"What about 'im?"

"The boy has questions. If you expect him to help you, I feel that it's only right for you to - "

"How much have you told him?" Gibbs asked, looking pointedly at him.

"I told him nothing" Ducky said. "And not for lack of him asking."

"Jen?"

"As little as I could get away with. He knows I was in witness protection but not the details."

"How long have you known him?"

"Almost four years."

"What kind of an agent is he?"

"He's got street smarts. He's dependable."

"He honest?"

Ducky snorted.

"You don't suspect _him_ by any chance, do you Jethro?"

"Oh you know me, Duck. I suspect everything."

"Yes" the medical examiner said wryly. "An admirable trait in an investigator. Also the reason your last three marriages ended in divorce."

There was a long beat of silence, and then Gibbs whipped out his phone.

"Tobias" he said, when the FBI agent picked up at the other end. "Godfrey Parker. What can you tell me? Uh-huh. There a _but_ in there somewhere? Mmhmmm. You sure about him? Thanks Tobias."

"Did I pass the test?"

They turned round to find Godfrey Parker standing there with a sardonic smile to match his tone. Gibbs raised his eyebrows but didn't reply.

"Is that breakfast?" Tony asked, breaking the silence that stretched as the two men sized each other up all over again.

"Yeah" Godfrey said, handing over the bag without taking his eyes off Gibbs. "You know it's interesting. I had a little talk of my own with Agent Fornell last night. He said you were a sniper. A good one, but your eyesight's shot. You're injury-prone, if not in a state of near death-wish fulfillment. And though you're pressured and impatient, you're also passionate and loyal, in spite of the fact that you don't trust anyone. But you know what? You are going to have to trust me, Agent Gibbs. Because I want the same thing you want. To keep Jenny safe and to catch the son of a bitch that did this to Patty MacNamara and Yvonne Prince."

"Call me Jethro" was all Gibbs said before he turned away. "And pull up a chair."

He crossed eyes with Ducky for a moment and nodded for him to start.

"Jenny was working for the OCME when the body of Allisone Carpenter was found."

"Excuse me, _OCME_?" Godfrey interrupted.

"Office of the Chief Medical Examiner" Tony explained.

"We turned the case over to NCIS as soon as we realised she was a marine" Jenny continued. "But the killing was followed by another one .."

"Twenty-four hours later" Godfrey supplied. "Like the new cases."

"Exactly" Ducky said.

Godfrey looked at Jenny with curiosity.

"Why did you remain involved if the case was taken over by NCIS?"

Ducky exchanged a look with Gibbs and then smiled.

"I was very impressed by the way she'd handled the first autopsy. Quite remarkable for someone who hadn't been practising that long."

"I came to the profession late" Jenny explained. "I went through law school before I decided that it wasn't for me."

"So you asked her to stay on as a consultant ..." Tony clarified.

"I did. A leap of faith well rewarded, I might add. Because it was Jenny who pointed out that we might be looking for someone ambidextrous when the second body was found. And very possibly a surgeon."

"Many everyday objects are designed to be only ergonomic for right-handed people" Jen explained. "As a result, left-handed people are much more likely to develop motor skills in their non-dominant hand than right-handed people. _But_, ambidexterity is often encouraged in activities requiring a great deal of skill in both hands. Things like juggling, percussion playing, combat ..."

"And surgery" finished Godfrey with a proud smile aimed in her direction.

"And surgery" echoed Ducky. "The cuttings were so perfectly executed that there really wasn't much doubt. It had to be someone in medical school or a surgeon."

"But there had to have been hundreds of likely candidates in the DC area."

"There were" Gibbs said.

"But the bodies also showed signs of internal trauma" Ducky added.

"Rape?"

"Penetration with a variety of objects. Which changed in nature as the torture became more and more brutal."

"The profilers determined that we were looking for someone with a serious sexual dysfunction" Jen carried on. "Possibly chronic impotence which didn't allow him to maintain a mature and consensual relationship with a woman. They told us that a man like him could, however, find powerful release when his fantasies were fulfilled, and that he got great satisfaction from parodying the sexual act."

"They also told us that this likely generated rage in him" Ducky picked up. "Which is what led Jethro to narrow the field to suspects with priors."

"Find many?" Godfrey asked.

"Six" Gibbs replied. "But one of them stood out."

He ran a hand across his face as he thought back to the day he'd interviewed Jonas Mitchell's ex-wife.

"_What do you want me to tell you, Agent Gibbs?" the petite brunette spat at him when he queried her about her famous husband._

"_How about we start with why you accepted three million dollars in return for dropping charges of domestic abuse against him?"_

_The woman shrugged._

"_I gave him a run for his money" she said._

"_You'd been married three months" Gibbs pointed out. "And he had an ironclad prenup."_

_Linda Mitchell took a long sip of the drink in her hand._

"_Jonas was ... not very good in bed" she said in a small voice. "So he tried to compensate. By buying me .. toys. I was inexperienced. Raised Baptist. I .. I didn't know very much about men at all when I married him. At first I thought it was normal. Thought he was being considerate because I had such a hard time the first time we slept together. Thought it was my fault that he couldn't get turned on. But then after a while it started to become degrading. And the toys became ... larger. And nastier. And then one night he brought home ... he brought h-ho .."_

_She covered her mouth with her hands, obviously still haunted by the memories. _

"_I know this is hard, but it's important" Gibbs said. "Please."_

_She nodded._

"_He brought home something long and sharp. I remember looking at it and thinking that it looked like the Washington Monument. When I refused to let him use it on me he ... he became violent."_

"_Was that the first time he lost control?"_

_The woman nodded._

"_He became hysterical. And violent. I went to my mother's house and never went back."_

"_And he bought your silence for three million dollars."_

_She shrugged, and then her eyes grew wide._

"_What's he done?" she asked suddenly._

"So then you focused your investigation on him" Godfrey said when Gibbs had finished.

"Yeah."

"But he was still one step ahead of us" Ducky said. "Until we got a break with the seventh murder."

"_Anything Ducky?"_

_The medical examiner looked up from the body of Rachel Curtis._

"_The violence is escalating, Jethro. This time, as best I can determine, he used a trephine."_

"_A trephine? As in .. what they use for trepanation."_

"_Afraid so. We're looking for a surgical instrument with a cylindrical blade. Usually used for obtaining bone cores. I don't need to tell you the damage he did with it."_

"_No, you don't."_

"_But what stands out .. is the serration. It makes me think of the older trephines. The ones used around the time of the civil war. I've called a friend over at the Smithsonian. Ross McCormick is something of a buff when it comes to these things. If Mitchell used an antique he had to have bought it somewhere. Ross may be able to trace it. He should be calling back any minute."_

_As if on cue the phone rang shrilly._

"_Ross .. got anything?"_

"_I've contacted Early Technology. We've worked them before. They work out of .."_

"_Monkton House in Edinburgh" Ducky said with a sigh. "I should have thought of that myself. Did you find anything?"_

"_Yes. An early nineteenth centuty trephine with an ebony handle and retractable centre perforator was sold for two hundred and thirty pounds two years ago. The handle was 100 mm wide, and top to bottom with perforator retracted it measured 308 mm. Does that sound like what you're looking for?"_

"_Any word on the diameter of the blade?"_

_Ross shuffled some papers around._

"_Yes. Five centimetres. Approximately two inches."_

"_Who was it sold to?" Ducky asked._

"_A Jonas Mitchell."_

"So that's how you knew it was him" Godfrey said.

"When Jonas was confronted about it he said he collected trephines, and that he'd been robbed several months earlier" Jen said, shaking her head. "And the robbery _had_ been reported. Several trephines of emormous value were missing, and some had shown up on auction blocks in places as far-flung as Belarus. But nobody had been arrested in connection with the theft."

"Sonofabitch planned it all .." Godfrey said.

"Yeah" Gibbs said.

"By this point he was claiming that NCIS was harassing him" Jen carried on. "And Jethro was under strict orders to stay away from him."

"And then what happened?" Godfrey asked – not failing to notice that at his question both Gibbs and Ducky moved a little closer to Jen.

"Then he went after Jenny" Ducky said softly.


	8. Chapter 8

"Jethro was given a written reprimand" Ducky continued.

You got a _yellow card_, Boss?" Tony quipped.

"It very clearly stated that he was no longer to have any kind of contact with Dr. Mitchell" Ducky continued after a withering glance in his direction.

"And then things went quiet" Gibbs said. "For two weeks."

_"Hey Gibbs ... Director wants you in his office" a fellow agent said as he came down the steps into the bullpen._

_Gibbs looked up from his desk, grunted an acknowledgement, and headed upstairs._

_"Jethro .." Director Morrow said as he waved him in. _

_"You wanted to see me Sir?"_

_"Update on the Mitchell case?"_

_"I thought I wasn't supposed to be involved in that anymore."_

_Morrow sat back in his seat and smiled benevolently._

_"You really think I don't know you called in a favour from your pal Fornell?"_

_Gibbs angled his head but said nothing._

_"He put a few of the new recruits on twenty-four hour surveillance" Morrow said. "But, unlike you, he clears things with his Director first."_

"_You asking me to pull the plug?"_

_Morrow's smile faded a little._

_"No. But my hands are tied on this one, Jethro. The man is practically a national hero. For what it's worth, be discreet."_

_Gibbs nodded, and turned to go._

_"Jethro ..." Morrow called after him._

_"Sir?"_

_"If this goes south there won't be anything I can do for you. Stay off the radar."_

_"He had just opened his mouth to say something else when his phone rang. As he listened his eyes cut to Gibbs', and the look in them was enough to make the latter's gut clench._

_"Body at the Marine Barracks. Pacci caught the case. Dr. Mallard's already on the scene."_

_Gibbs looked inquiringly at him._

_"Go" was all Morrow said._

_"What've we got?" Gibbs asked when he arrived on the scene._

_"It's pretty bad" Ducky's assistant said as he wheeled the gurney towards the van. "Multiple lacerations across the upper torso. She's been cut multiple times."_

_Gibbs ran a hand over his face._

_"Same as the others."_

_"Much worse I'm afraid" Ducky said as he appeared. _

_"Duck?"_

_Ducky sighed._

_"The torture is worse than anything we've seen up to now. It's almost as though he's trying to make a statement."_

_"Any idea who she is?" Gibbs asked Pacci._

_"Not a marine" the agent replied. "We found a driver's licence on her. Name's Jennifer Marhsall."_

_Gibbs' head snapped up._

_"Oh dear God ..." Ducky said, stopping his assistant from loading the body._

_Gibbs unzipped the body bag in one frantic pull._

_"This isn't a statement" he said as soon as he saw the red hair. "It's a warning." He pulled his phone out of his pocket. "Tobias" he said as the other agent answered. "Where's Mitchell?"_

_"Dunno. Sachs is on it. What's going on?"_

_Gibbs told him._

_"I'll find out."_

_"Ducky, get her back to the morgue. Pacci, have them go over the scene again. Maybe they missed seomthing the first time. Just ... do it."_

_He had already started moving towards his car when Fornell was back on the line._

_"He's in a coffee shop on 7th and H."_

_"He alone?"_

_There was silence for a moment._

_"Sachs says he went in alone and sat at a table with a woman wearing a green coat."_

Godfrey didn't miss the fact that Jen moved even closer to Gibbs as he recounted the story. Or that she placed her hand on his arm in what looked like an intuitive gesture of support.

Gibbs looked at her once and gave her the floor with an almost imperceptible nod.

_She was finding it very hard to keep her eyes off his hands as he talked. There wasn't even the slightest tremor in them as he buttered a piece of toast with his right, transferred the knife to his left hand and proceeded to cut it up into small bits. Through it all he never stopped looking at her. And he never stopped talking to her. If she didn't trust Jethro's gut implicitly, and if she hadn't seen his handiwork up close and personal perhaps his tone would have convinced her of his innocence._

_"Do you have any idea how much damage the media attention has done to me already?"_

_"I really think it's inappropriate for us to be engaging in any kind of conversation" she replied, her skin crawling just from his nearness._

_"I am truly sorry that an item from my collection was potentially used in a murder" he said. "It was a beautiful piece. It had weight. And it had a soul."_

_"I really need to go" Jen said, making at attempt to stand._

_But Mitchell's hand snaked out and clamped one of hers._

_"I'm appealing to you as a fellow doctor" he said, the strength of his grip forcing back into her seat._

_"Let go of me" she said, her voice steely._

_"You haven't even touched your coffee" he said, leaning so far forward that she could smell his breath. "And it's been a long time since I've had the pleasure of having coffee with a beautiful woman. You know .. you have the most beautiful hair. Has it always been this colour?"_

Tony watched something pass between Gibbs and Jen when she faltered, and couldn't help noting that the space between them kept decreasing too.

_Gibbs and Fornell watched from Sach's car._

"_They've traced the call back to a phone box on the corner of this street" Gibbs said as he put his phone on the dashboard._

"_He tipped you off about the body?" Sachs asked. "Why?"_

"_He's messing with your head, Jethro" Fornell said as the other agent picked up the binoculars._

_Gibbs followed the scene unfolding in the coffee shop - reading Mitchell's lips with ease. He watched as the man extended a hand and pulled a strand of hair off Jen's coat. Watched him smile when she flinched. Willed himself not to react when he sat back and looked admiringly at her._

_"You hair catches fire in the sun. Has he ever told you that?"_

"_I really need to go."_

_She detached herself from him, but he was on his feet just as fast as she was - smiling dangerously._

_"Do you think he'll mind if I run my hand through it?" he added as he made a move to do just that._

"_Jethro!" Fornell called._

_But Gibbs was already halfway across the street. He wasn't sure what had made him snap, but he didn't pause to consider his motives either._

"_Agent Gibbs .. come to check up on us?" Mitchell drawled as he stormed into the coffee shop. "I was just asking Jenny whether you'd mind sharing."_

_"The only thing you're going to be sharing is a cell" Gibbs said as he rotated him and pushed him up against the window._

_"This is a violation of my rights" Mitchell protested, his voice rising in pitch. Making sure everyone in the coffee shop could hear him._

"_Name Jennifer Marshall mean anything to you?" Gibbs rasped into his ear._

"_Should it?" Marshall spat - pushing back against him for a moment, before going stock still._

_He turned his head and looked lewdly at Jenny._

"_Was she as beautiful as Dr. Shepard?" he asked, his voice no longer loud because he only intended Gibbs to hear._

"_Lets go" Gibbs said as he handcuffed his hands behind his back._

"_What did he do to her, Jethro?" Mitchell taunted as Gibbs propelled him forward._

"_Same thing I'm gonna be doing to you if you ever as much as look at Dr. Shepard again."_

"_Do you ever wonder if they screamed?" Mitchell asked suddenly, stopping in his tracks. "Do you think your Jenny would ... ahhhh ... "_

_It took Gibbs a split second to realise what he'd done, but the damage had been done and there was no going back._

"_You broke my hand, you son of a bitch. _I'll have your badge for this."

Tony cleared his throat.

"So I guess we now know why you ended up on probation" he said.

"And Mitchell went to trial and walked?" Godfrey asked, stupefied.

"Not enough of anything to tie him to the case. Covered his tracks good" Gibbs said.

"He sued NCIS" Ducky picked up, "claiming that his career had been ruined when Jethro broke his left hand. It was a media circus."

Godfrey looked from one to the other, and only asked his question when Jenny raised her eyebrows at him.

"But if he was cleared .. why did you go into witness protection?"

This time it was Ducky who reached out. To her.

But before she could try and formulate a response Godfrey's cell phone went off.

"Secure the scene" he said into it. "We're on our way."

When he put his phone back into his pocket his eyes were hard.

"They've found another body" he said slowly.

"It's too soon" Ducky said.

"Apparently it's the same MO" Godfrey explained.

"It's too soon, Jethro. The third body didn't show up till the three days later."

Gibbs nodded.

"Di Nozzo. Call McGee and Ziva. Tell them to meet us at the scene. You take Jen home and stay with her."

"I'm going with you" Jen said.

"Jen ..."

"This isn't a discussion, Jethro" she threw back at him as she slipped into a jacket she reserved for crime scene work. "I'm going."

She was out the door before he could stop her.

"At the first sign of anything, she's outta there" Gibbs hissed to Tony as he brushed past him and stalked after Jen.

"The killer's deviated from the pattern" Ducky said half an hour later as they crouched by the body. "Mitchell didn't take any male victims."

"I'm thinking of taking a ride up to Attica tomorrow. Having a talk with him" Gibbs said as he hovered above them.

"That might be a good idea" Ducky said.

"Are you sure that's necessary, Jethro? We might really be looking at a copycat with this one" Jen pointed out as she put a liver probe into the body and attempted to establish time of death.

When she was done she stepped aside and let Gibbs step up to the body. As he patted it down his hand knocked against something hard in the victim's jacket pocket.

"Got something" he said, as he pulled a driver's licence out of the man's wallet. "Di Nozzo" he bellowed a moment later.

"Boss?"

"Get her out of here. Now!"

"What is it Jethro?" Ducky asked, alerted to the gravity of whatever the agent had found by the change in his tone.

Gibbs turned the driver's licence around and Ducky closed his eyes and let out a long breath.

"This isn't a copycat" Gibbs said.

"Jethro?" Jen asked, the hairs on the back of her neck rising.

"Guy's name is _Alex Anderson_" was all Gibbs said before turning to Tony. "Get her out of here. And I want you to stick to her, you understand?"

"Like glue .. I've got it."

"Like an ex-wife after an alimony check, Di Nozzo. Go!"

His phone went off just as Jen was about to argue with him, and he turned away before answering it.

"Yeah, Gibbs. Whatcha got, Abs?"

His face darkened as he listened to what she had to say.

"Get me the details" he said as he watched Tony close the car door on Jen and drive off.

"Jethro, are you planning on keeping Jennifer from performing the autopsy on the body?"

"This is the second time someone's died instead of her, Duck. Don't think I want to put her through another autopsy like that."

"Quite" the medical examiner said. "But I'd appreciate having another pair of eyes on this."

Gibbs looked at him for a moment, and then a weak smile appeared.

He handed over his phone.

"Call her Duck. Have her come on down."

_____________________________________________

When he arrived at Jen's house later that evening, Ziva let him. He followed her into a brightly-lit kitchen and found McGee and Godfrey sitting at table; eating and trading stories.

"You're in time for dinner" Jen said when she saw him.

Gibbs nodded.

"Jenny says you're driving to Attica to talk to Mitchell tomorrow" Godfrey said after a while. "Mind if I tag along?"

"What is it, Jethro?" Jen asked when he didn't answer.

"Mitchell's dead" he said. "Killed by an inmate three weeks ago. McGee, I want you to go back and help Abby. She's going through his correspondence and other personal effects."

"Didn't his family claim them?"

"Parents died when he was in college. His one sibling refused to have anything to do with him after he was sent to Attica."

McGee nodded and got up from his seat.

"Thanks for dinner" he said to Jenny.

"Ziva .. relieve Tony outside."

The Israeli nodded and withdrew.

Godfrey looked between Jen and Gibbs for a while, and then pushed his plate aside.

"I guess I'll be making tracks as well" he said awkwardly. "You'll be ..." he addressed Gibbs.

"I'll change over with Ziva as soon as I'm done in here."

"Right, then I'll ... see you in the morning" the younger agent said, moving to hug Jen. "Thanks for dinner."

"You're welcome. Make yourself at home" she said over her shoulder to Gibbs as she walked the younger agent to the door.

When she came back into the kitchen Gibbs was peering into a pot.

"Are you hungry?"

"Depends" he said.

"On what?"

"Has your cooking improved?"

Jen laughed as she pulled a plate from the cupboard.

"Oh" she said as she pulled the lid off the pot. "There's nothing left."

Gibbs watched as she pulled a few things out of the fridge.

"Don't bother on my account."

"When's the last time you had anything decent to eat?" she asked.

Gibbs shrugged, and leaned back against her kitchen cupboards – watching as she pulled out a knife and set about carefully dicing vegetables.

Jen smiled as she felt his eyes on her. The awkwardness between them had dissipated totally, and in spite of the fact that she knew they should talk about the things that had happened earlier, she found that all she wanted to do was bask in the security that his presence afforded.

She raised her eyes to his as she worked.

"What are you thinking about?" she asked curiously when she saw the loopy grin on his face.

"The scalpel" he replied, already more than half way gone down memory lane.

The flip her stomach did was instantaneous, but she laughed through it.

"Get your mind out of the bedroom, Jethro" she admonished jokingly.

"We weren't _in_ the bedroom, Jen."


	9. Chapter 9

_Jen looked up from the body she was working on._

_"What happened to you?" she asked when she saw him standing there._

_"Mudbath" she said with a shrug._

_"I take it you mean that literally" she said with a grin._

_"The adrenaline rush sometimes comes at a price" he said with a grin of his own as he recounted the chase through the banks of a nature reserve saturated with water._

_"And the reason you didn't go home to change before coming here?"_

_"Not happy to see me. Jenny?" he said as he moved closer and pressed his lips to the pulse point on her neck._

_"I'm happy to see you" she said as bumped him off her, "but you're contaminating my body."_

_She could feel him smiling behind her. Waiting._

_"You planning on taking a break anytime soon?"_

_Jen put her scalpel down and turned to look at him._

_"Why? Need my help with anything?" she said, her eyes running over him._

_"It's been four days" he said simply – forcing her eyebrows into her hairline._

_"I took care of you every night on the phone, Jethro" she reminded him as she went back to the body on her table._

_"It's not the same and you know it. What time are you getting out of here?"_

_"Not for a very long time" she said. But he could hear the mirth in her voice._

_"You're enjoying this, aren't you?"_

_"Only a bit more than a lot" she returned with a smile._

_Then her face turned serious._

_"How's the arm?" she asked, suddenly remembering that he'd told her two nights before that he'd been nicked by a knife while tackling a suspect who'd resisted arrest._

"_Meh ..comin' along " he said with a shrug. _

"_Did someone look at it?"_

"_Nah. Patched it up when I got home."_

_"And then you went joyriding in a repository of animal droppings" she said with a shake of her hear. "Do you know how many rats and other vermin live in nature reserves alongside the birds? Come on ... I want to take a look."_

_She ignored his protests, and prodded him with her index finger – moving him towards a storage room in the back._

"_This is practically fused to the skin" she said when she'd rolled up his sleeve and inspected the bandage. "Sit here and don't move" she said, pulling up a chair and walking back into the morgue._

"_You planning to do kinky stuff with those things?" Gibbs asked when she returned – eyeing the scalpel and the metal tray in her hand._

"_In your dreams" she replied as she filled the metal tray with water and pulled a sponge from the metal shelving that lined the room. "Now don't move because I don't want to cut you by mistake."_

_Gibbs sat patiently as the bandage fell apart under the scalpel. When she set it aside and cleaned the wound he snuck one look at her and then placed his hands around one of her thighs_

"_Jethro ..." she admonished gently as the hands started to rise higher._

"_Four days is a long time" he repeated. "And just because you don't want to touch me it doesn't follow that I don't want to touch you."_

_Jen dropped a kiss to the top of his head._

_"Take your shirt off" she said with a smile. "I'm giving you a sponge bath."_

_Gibbs raised his arm to undo the buttons and winced. Jen shook her head and took the shirt off him herself._

"_Is there anywhere you're not caked in mud?" she asked._

_"Nope" he said, his eyes closing as he felt the sponge make contact with this shoulder._

_Jen stroked every inch of his skin - moving the sponge in circular motions as she pulled the grime from the it. When the sponge grazed one of his nipples his breath hitched slightly, and his hand snaked out to clamp one her wrists._

_"Don't tease" he growled._

_"This turning you on, Jethro?" she asked, the huskiness in her own voice unmistakeable._

_Gibbs stood and pulled her hand down._

_"That answer your question?" he asked as she dropped her head onto his shoulder and smiled against his skin._

_He moaned, rubbing against her hand just enough to show her that he wanted to be stroked._

"_Mmmm .." she said, reaching up slightly to plant kisses right below his earlobe, and along his jaw. "Is that for me?"_

_Gibbs rubbed her back gently as she sucked on his neck gently, and then moved back up it; nibbling on his earlobe and purring slightly. She licked her way back down, her free hand rounding his shoulders for anchorage as she kissed his adam's apple and made her way over his chin and finally to his mouth._

"_Jenny .." he murmured into her mouth as he ran his hands down to her bottom. Squeezing it gently, and pulling her into him. The way she moaned just making him want her more._

_Jen ran her fingers through his hair, kissing him slow and deeply, biting his bottom lip and then sucking on it gently. Kissing him again and again. Feeling his desperation grow and enjoying it. Wondering how long it would be before he snapped._

_She didn't have to wait long at all, because he made short work of the buttons on her lab coat and those on the blouse she had on underneath, before tossing both items aside; replacing them with his hands immediately. Greedy eyes took in her breasts and he never took his eyes off hers as he massaged them through her bra. Until he lowered his mouth. His teeth grazing her nipples slightly - making them strain against the fabric that encased them._

"_Jethro .." she said in a whisper as her head fell back. Leaving him to drag his mouth between her breasts and head south. She moaned again at the sensation the feeling of her lips and tongue on her abdomen._

_When he suddenly stopped and straightened up she cracked an eye open at him. The sight of him holding her scalpel in his hands heightened her arousal, because it didn't take her long to figure out what he was going to use it on. She stood stock still as he cut loose first one and then the other of the straps of her bra, and when it was done she leaned back against the shelving and watched him watch her. As he reached forward and rubbed one of her nipples she let her eyes flutter closed. But when his mouth closed over it the sexual need became blatant. She was fumbling with his belt when a noise in the morgue alerted them both to the presence of somebody else. In one deft move Gibbs moved them both against the door and reached for the light switch – plunging the room into darkness._

"_Doctor Shepard?" a voice called out. "Are you in there?"_

_The handle was pumped up and down a few times, but their combined body weight against the door ensured that it didn't budge. Jen buried her head in Gibbs' chest to stop herself from laughing, and together they listened as the person outside moved around the morgue. Obviously delivering a body. _

_A few minutes later he was gone._

"_He'll be back soon" Jen said. "He can't leave a body here without a signature."_

"_Then we'd better make this quick" Gibbs said as he strained against her. Dropping his face to her neck and suckling on the skin there._

_Jen reached for the light switch._

"_Leave it" he said._

"_You want to have sex in a storage closet, in the morgue, in the dark ?" Jen asked with laughter in her voice._

_His only answer was another assault on her neck. An assualt which moved down her front, and only stopped when he encountered her skirt. She reached for his belt again, but he beat her to it – divesting himself of his thick protective outerwear, the pants beneath it, and finally of his underwear. Although she couldn't see him, his nearness was intoxicating; and the feel of his hands removing her skirt and panties when she knew that he was already naked made her reach for him._

_His mouth sought hers out – but it wasn't what she wanted. She pulled him close; grinding herself against him in a way that made both of them suck in a breath. He moaned as she arched into him, and instinctively raised one of her legs to his waist. She bit down on his shoulder with very little regard to the damage she might do as his hardness rubbed against her clit. But her hips moved with the pressure anyway as he sought entrance. She whimpered slightly as the force of entry slammed her back against the door but as he pushed repeatedly into her, her name on constant replay, she pushed back – craving more of the searing gravelly roughness._

"_Jethro .." she murmured, knowing he would know that she wanted it hard and fast. Knowing that he would oblige._

_As he swelled and pulsed within her she flailed within his grasp. Lost in the no man's land of intense pain and exquisite pleasure she dropped her face into the crook of his neck and bore the brunt of his sharp thrusts, perfectly cognizant that the sounds escaping from her were urging him on. His fingers wound themselves into her hair, pulling her head back and holding it hard against the door. As he pressed his mouth to hers harshly she knew it was time for him to let go; that he was struggling to hold on for her. She angled herself slightly and was rewarded with a convulsive orgasm that pulled him over the edge with her in a flare of blistering heat._

"_God, Jen .." he said as his head dropped to her shoulder._

"_Maybe you should stay away more often" she teased as soon as she found her voice._

"_Don't joke about it" he said as he cupped her face and kissed her tenderly._

As she shrugged off the intense memory, Jen became aware of how far she and Gibbs had gravitated towards each other. One look into his eyes also told her she wasn't the only one who was unsettled. Or aroused. There was a darkness to his eyes that hadn't been there a few minutes before, and in the intimacy of her kitchen it was very difficult to remember that the memory they'd both just relived was over nine years old.

"Why didn't you call me, Jen?" he asked, reaching out to touch her and then hesitating.

The first time he'd asked her that question she'd pretended to herself that he was asking about the case. Why she'd called Ducky instead of him. Now there was nowhere to hide, so she merely turned away.

"Jenny ..." he said as he stepped up behind her placed his hands on her shoulders.

The sound of her name off his lips made her stomach flutter, but she resisted turning round. Because he clearly wanted an answer, and she wasn't ready to give it to him. Time had diminished the ache, but it hadn't erased it.

"Are we interrupting?" a voice from the doorway said.

They turned to find Ducky and Jordan in the kitchen with them.

"I was just wondering whether Jordan could possibly spend the night with you, Jennifer" Ducky began. "Godfrey's apartment is a bit small."

"I have a spare room" Jenny said with a smile as she moved to greet the female medical examiner. "In fact why don't you both stay? There's a Queen bed in there. You'll be comfortable."

Ducky had the good grace to blush, and was just about to turn down the offer, when Jordan piped up.

"We'd love to" she said.

"Good" Jen said brightly. "I was just making Jethro something to eat. Have you had dinner?"

"Not yet" Jordan said. "We were going to look for a restaurant but ..."

"Have dinner with us" Jen replied.

"If you insist" Ducky said as he held a chair out for Jordan and then sat beside her.

Inevitably the conversation over dinner turned to Mitchell and the events of the day.

"What I don't understand is the time lapse" Jordan said. "If there were two killers out there why would one stop?"

"They were working as a team" Ducky pointed out.

"Mitchell's capture was a close call" Jen added.

"Although the question we have to ask ourselves is why start again now?"

"Got any theories, Duck?" Gibbs asked.

"One of the things we learnt in the Masters Class -"

"Ducky's been dabbling in psychology" Gibbs commented to Jen.

"It has proved useful on an occasion or two" Ducky said with a smile.

"It has" Gibbs concurred.

"My point, however, was going to be that when a person is under intense pressure they do things they might not otherwise do. Or revert to old habits."

"So you think something happened to bring the killer instinct out again?"

"It's hard to say" Ducky say. "I'd say that the death of Mitchell might have been a shock. But not enough of one to start killing again. Something happened to trigger the desire. And I suspect that the trigger is Jennifer. What baffles me, however, is how he found her here. Found her at all actually."

Jenny shrugged.

"I've kept a low profile for the most part" she said. "I've been o-"

Gibbs's phone rang as she was about to say something further, and his face darkened as he listened to the person at the other end of the line.

"Go upstairs" he said to Jen as he stood from the table. "Duck, Jordan .. you too."

"What's going on, Jethro?"

"Ziva says there's someone outside."

He was halfway down the hall when a car door banged and the sound of footsteps beating a hasty retreat on the asphalt echoed in the narrow street. Weapon drawn Gibbs emerged from the house in time to see Ziva hot on the heels of a running figure. He took off after them – reaching the end of the road in time to see the man get onto a motorcycle and drive off. Ziva took one shot at the bike and blew out its back tyre. The bike spun out of control and fell, sliding along the road until it hit a utility pole. Throwing its rider. Before the man could even begin to come round Gibbs was on him.

"Call Tony" he barked at Ziva as he dialled 911 on his phone. "Tell him to get over here."

Ziva pulled out her phone as she bent over the man on the street.

"He is coming round" she said as the man groaned and tried to sit up.

The sound of Ziva cocking her weapon made him freeze.

"I would not move" she said, her voice like steel. "And I would save your strength. You have a lot of explaining to do."

Gibbs waited until the ambulance was gone before walking slowly back to the house.

"Boss ..." Tony said as he walked back into the kitchen. "Packet by the gate."

But Gibbs was looking at the box on the kitchen table.

"And _that_" Tony continued. "By the kitchen door. Found it when I was checking round back."

Gibbs' blood ran cold at the familiarity of the package.

"Get Ducky" was all he said. "And make sure she doesn't come down here."

When Tony had disappeared upstairs he pulled out his knife and carefully opened the box. He heard Ducky's sharp intake of breath beside him a few moments later.

"Not again, Jethro" was all he said.

__________

**Author's note:**

To avoid any potential confusion ...

the flashback in this chapter takes place inbetween Gibbs being warned to stay away from Mitchell and the cofffee shop scene. There was a two week lull, as Gibbs said in the last chapter. This flashback would fall somewhere in there. And they were already in a relationship. Had been in a relationship for a few weeks. The flashback does not take place at NCIS but at the OCME, where Jenny worked.


	10. Chapter 10

Godfrey took in his surroundings. He'd been expecting many things – but a goth sporting a plaid skirt, chunky jewellery, and a web tattoed on the back of her neck hadn't been among them. He lingered in the doorway, unable to pull his eyes from her.

"Did your mother never teach you that it's not polite to stare?" Abby asked without looking round.

When he didn't answer she turned, walked up to him, and took the package from him.

"I'm Abby" she said. "And I assume you must be Godfrey. Of course I only assume that because you look like a suit and you are carrying a box with red writing on it. _And_ you're here at the designated time. _And_ because Ducky said you were good looking.. Because otherwise I wouldn't assume. It's against the rules."

"Rules?"

"Gibbs' rules" she said, as though that explained everything. "And you should close you mouth. You look like a goldfish. Now .. what have you brought me? Ducky didn't tell me last night."

Godfrey shifted uncomfortably next to her as she cut the box open. Watching her cover her mouth with her hands as she took in the contents. She turned to him with tears in her eyes.

"Who would do such a thing?"

"I don't know" he admitted.

"Did they find the rest of the body?" she asked as she pulled the head out of its confines.

Godfrey shook his head again.

"How's Jenny?"

"Shaken up" he replied.

"I would be too. No wonder Ducky didn't tell me what it was last night" Abby said. "I wouldn't have slept."

"We didn't sleep either" Godfrey said, recalling how upset Jenny had been when she'd realised what was in the box. How she'd locked herself in the bathroom. How he and Gibbs had taken turns sitting outside the door waiting for her to either come out or to let them in. She hadn't, and she'd still been in there when he'd left for NCIS.

He was in the middle of recounting it to her when her phone rang.

"Okay. Give me two minutes. He wants _you_" she said, passing the phone to godfrey after listening to what Gibbs had to say.

"How'd he know I was here already?"

"Because he's Gibbs" Abby said with a smile as she moved to set up a commlink.

"Parker" Godfrey said into the phone. "Gotcha. I'll bring it back with me. We're ready here" he added when Abby gave him the thumbs up sign.

"Whatcha got Abs?" Gibbs said as he appeared on the screen.

"Okay, so I ran the plates on the motorbike" she began, grateful to be distracted from the contents of the box for a moment. "Guy's name is James Kandon. He works for UPS. No priors. Not even a parking ticket to his name. According to his supervisor everyone likes him, he's never missed a day's work, and he's reliable. "

"So why'd he run?"

"If I saw Ziva coming at me with a gun, I'd probably run too" Abby said. "I checked his schedule. His last pick up yesterday was from a drop off box in Crawford Street. Six-fifteen pm. He then took the truck and the mail to the sorting facility and clocked out of there just after seven o'clock. Ducky said that you guys brought him down a little after that. So he must have come straight from work."

"Yeah" Gibbs said.

"Has he said anything?"

"Tony just called to say he's ready to talk" Gibbs said. "I'm going over there as soon as we're done here. What've you got on the other matter?"

Abby took a deep breath.

"Not much" she said slowly.

"Did she suffer?"

Abby looked up to see Jen push her way to the front, and surmised that Ducky either hadn't told her much or that they hadn't even allowed her to see the head.

"I can't tell" she said.

"Because last time ..." Jen said haltingly, gripping the edge of the desk tightly.

"What happened last time, Jenny?" Godfrey wanted to know.

Jen shook her head and turned away.

"Jenny please. There are way too many blanks in the backstory, and I can't help if you don't tell me everything. "

Whether it was his tone of voice or whether she acknowledged the truth inherent in his words, she wasn't sure – but Jen turned back to the webcam. She exhanged an intense look with Gibbs before taking a deep breath and starting to talk.

"When Mitchell went to trial in ninety-nine there wasn't enough evidence to tie him to the murders. Eight murders and all the evidence was pretty much circumstantial. We had nothing on him. And needless to say, Jethro breaking his hand didn't help either. He sued NCIS, Jethro was put on probation, the OCME was put under investigation. We were accused of fabricating evidence to implicate him. It was a mess. Then about two weeks after the trial the phone calls started. Mostly hang ups. At all hours of the night. From phone boxes. Never the same box twice, never a print found on any one. A short time after that the mail started pouring in. First to the OCME and then to my home. Hate mail, threats, very graphic descriptions of what was coming to me. And then .." She faltered for a moment, her eyes filling with tears. "And then there was a delivery like this one. Same type of box, same red writing."

"What was inside it?" Abby asked, not sure she wanted to know the answer.

"My dog" Jen said. "He'd been tortured. In the same way as the victims, and just as the letters said I would be."

Abby squeezed her eyes shut against the visual.

"And that's when you went into witness protection" Godfrey clarified, his voice low.

"Yes" Jen said, her eyes cutting to Gibbs when she felt his hand on the small of her back, in a gesture she recognised as silent support.

"If there's anything to find here I will find it. I promise" Abby said. She paused for a moment, and then asked her last question.

"What's the cat's name?"

Jenny opened her mouth to speak and faltered.

"Her name's Zully" Godfrey supplied.

"As in Zuleika?" Ducky asked with interest.

Jen smiled sadly.

"I take it you mean Dobson, and not Potiphar's wife .."

"Duck, we don't have time for stories on this one" Gibbs said.

But Ducky ignored him.

"_Death cancels all engagements_" the medical examiner quoted as he took Jen's hand in his. "I'm sorry my dear."

Jen's eyes brimmed over with tears for a moment, but she held them back and gave him a watery smile.

"What I do not understand" Ziva said suddenly, "is why when it was all over you did not come back to your old life. Did you not have a house there? Did you not have friends?"

Jen looked at her for a moment, almost as though debating whether or not to answer the question. But she spoke again after the silence had stretched for a while.

"There was nothing left of my old life. No place for me." She turned away to the newest occupant on her steel table. "And now if you all wouldn't mind, I have work to do."

"I'll assist" Ducky said.

"I'd appreciate that" she said as she moved to get into her scrubs.

"I'll let you know if I find anything" Abby said to Gibbs, drawing his eyes away from Jen. "In the meantime, McGee and I are going to continue sifting through Mitchell's coreespondence. At last count there were still thirty-seven boxes to go through. The man got a lot of fan mail. Women wanting to marry him, women wanting to have his baby, people starting a sect who wanted his thoughts, people anxious to let him know that they knew he was innocent, people sending in medical records and wanting an opinion ..."

"I can hang around here and help" Godfrey offered.

Gibbs nodded as he headed for the door.

"Ziva ... " he said as he nodded in Jen's direction.

The Israeli aknowledged the order and settled herself at the other end of the room – keeping both medical examiners in her line of sight as they prepped for autopsy.

Jen could feel Ducky's eyes on her as she made the Y incision.

"Spit it out, Ducky. Before it gags you" she said, susprised at the vehemence in her tone.

"You weren't surprised yesterday when I said that Jethro had three divorces under his belt" he said carefully. "When you went away he'd only been married twice."

Jen didn't look up as she answered.

"Was that a test?"

"Why didn't you call?" he asked gently. "Me, if not him."

"I wanted to, Ducky. But it was too hard. I wanted him to be happy. I wanted him to move on. And he did. There's nothing to talk about."

"How did you know he'd moved on" Ducky pushed, wanting an answer to his suspicions.

"I saw him. With her" she qualified, a heartbeat later.

Ducky closed his eyes.

"When?" he asked.

Jen looked across the room to where Ziva was sitting, pretending not to be interested in the hushed tones.

"A month after I left the program" she said quietly.

_She thought her heart would beat its way out of her ribcage as the taxi rounded the corner. _

"_Can you stop?" she asked the driver when they were a few doors from the house. "I'll walk from here."_

_She wasn't sure he'd be home, but she knew she needed to control her nerves before seeing him - or she'd embarrass herself the moment she saw him. But as she stepped out into the bright sunlight and paid the fare she became aware of the unmistakable sounds of an argument._

"_Can you wait for a moment?" she said to the driver._

_She walked towards the raised voices slowly, stopping short after a few steps. Jethro had stopped arguing, but the redheaded woman with him hadn't let up. Jen backed away slowly, grateful that he'd been facing the other way._

"_I've changed my mind" she said to the driver as slipped back into the cab._

_The last thing she saw as they drove away was Jethro enveloping the redhead in an embrace, and his wedding band glinting firecely in the sun._

Ducky did the maths and sighed.

"When you came into Jethro's life you brought .. hope" he began slowly. "You were different to his ex-wives. Different to Shannon. He allowed himself to care for you. He blamed himself for you going into the program. When you left he was deskbound, haunted by the idea of Mitchell still out there. I .. I introduced him to Stephanie. She was a nice girl. I hoped she'd be a positive influence on him. He married her two days before he left for Moscow."

Jen reached out and laid a hand on his.

"You don't need to justify him or yourself, Ducky. I was happy for him. I was only sad for myself."

But Ducky shook his head as he continued.

"When Jethro returned from his assignment the killings started again. And they were both marines. It was almost as though Mitchell was playing with Jethro's head. Daring him to catch him. And Jethro pursued him. To hell and back. But there was something different about the killings. Mitchell was slipshod, not as methodical as he had been. I think Stephanie thought that once Mitchell was behind bars that Jethro would finally settle down and put it behind him."

Jen's eyes cut to his for a moment, and he tried to understand what lay behind them.

"But he didn't" he continued when she didn't speak. "There was always another case. Always someone else that needed to be vindicated. Always someone that needed the kind of justice that only Jethro could get for them. Things came to a head one day, she hit him on the head with baseball bat, and a few days later they went their own separate ways. They were only married fourteen months. The day you speak of may well have been the day Jethro left. His relationship with Stephanie was different than his ones with the others. She was, in many ways, gentler. In fact she was a lot like -"

"It was a long time ago, Ducky" she said as she focused on the body again. "It doesn't matter now."

____________________________________________________________________________

"How many times are we going to through this? I was just doing a guy a favour" James Kandon insisted from his hospital bed. "He stopped me as I was leaving work and offered me money to deliver a package for his kid."

"You make it a habit of making off-work deliveries?" Gibbs asked.

"He told me that it was his kid's birthday the next day and that he'd missed the overnight option. He said his ex-wife would have his balls if the gift didn't get there on time. Said she was a heartless bitch."

"And you didn't think three hundred dollars was a bit – Boss?" Tony asked.

But Gibbs had left the room and was already on his cell phone.

"Abs" he said as soon as she picked up. "I want you to call the UPS sorting facility. See if there's any footage of Kandon and our mystery guy. And then I want you to see what you can find on Mitchell's trials. Both of 'em. Court photos, newpaper cuttings. Anything."

"On it" she said before she hung up.

"What can you tell us about this _guy_?" he asked, as he stalked back into the room. "He right handed or left?"

"Left, I think" Kandon replied. "Hey ..." he called as Gibbs turned on his heel and walked out again. "Who's going to pay for all this?"

"Your insurance" Tony said with a wink.

"One of your people blew out my tyre" Kandon shouted. "_You_ did this to me."

"Next time don't take jobs from people you don't know" Tony said with a fake smile, before closing the door firmly behind him and hurrying after Gibbs.

________________________________________________

Gibbs felt the charged atmosphere the moment he stepped into the morgue. Ducky and Jen had just finished sewing up the body, and Ziva was standing by looking distinctly uncomfortable.

"Hey .." he said, holding a coffee out to Jen.

"I'm not thirsty" she said quietly as she bypassed him.

"Did you learn anything Jethro?" Ducky asked as Gibbs followed her with his eyes - watching her deposit her scrubs into a basket and leave the room.

"Not sure yet. But Kandon's definitely not our guy" he said as he made eye contact with Ziva that had her leaving the room after Jen.

"It would have been too easy if he was, wouldn't it?" Ducky said as he too made to bypass him.

Gibbs stepped in his path.

"What's going on?" he asked.

Ducky looked at him, lips slightly compressed.

"Why makes you think there's anything going on?"

"Duck ..."

"You're putting me in a very awkward position Jethro" the medical examiner said at length.

"You gonna make me ask again?"

Ducky sighed.

"She came back, Jethro."


	11. Chapter 11

"Doctor Shepard .."

Jen looked up into the face of the Public Affairs Officer.

"Deborah? Is everything okay?"

The woman smiled.

"Look, I know you're overloaded" she said, "but we have a bit of a situation .. and I'm really hoping you'll be able to help me out."

"Sure. What's going on?" Jen said, coming round her desk.

"We got a call from the police about half an hour ago. Some kids stumbled across a body last night at Prince William Park. The body showed no signs of violence, but they won't know for sure until an autopsy is done. "

"What has it got to do with us?"

"The woman belonged to a cult."

"Are they objecting to the autopsy?" Ducky asked, moving closer.

"No" Deborah replied. "Nothing like that. Their leader is pretty open to it. Is pushing for it, in fact."

"So what's the problem?" Gibbs asked, not liking the sound of it at all.

"The problem is that she wants a _woman_ to perform the autopsy. And Jen is the only one available round here."

"_She_?" Ducky asked.

"They call themselves the _Magna Mater_" Deborah began.

"Possibly the oldest religion in existence" Ducky said with a smile of fascination. "We're talking as far back as the stone age here, Jethro. Although by the time the cult reached Rome the priests were castrating themselves in front of the image of the Great Mother to be eligible to perform the rites. Fascinating stuff. You know, they say that St. Peter's Cathedral in the Vatican is built right on top of the old temple of Magna Mater."

"They also say that the cult went underground, and survived as a secret women's society among the higher classes" Deborah added with a smile.

"But you don't think these women belong to any secret society .." Jen said.

"I doubt it. They're a group of young girls led by a woman in her late forties. They have a farm up by the Park. They keep to themselves. They're self-sufficient, work from home, have never had any trouble with the law. Their rules are few, but they're clear. No man shall touch them. In life or death."

"Where's the body?" Jen asked.

"It'll be down here as soon as you say the word."

"Where's the leader?" Gibbs said.

"In my office" Deborah said.

"Name?"

"Margaret Lupescu."

Gibbs pulled out his phone.

"Margaret Lupescu, Abs. Full background check. Ziva .." he said as she snapped his phone shut.

"Jethro" Ducky said. "You don't really think .."

"I just want Ziva to talk to her Duck. Just to make sure."

"I'm sure she'll have no problems with that" Deborah said, before leaning over and patting Jen's hand. "And thank you."

"You're welcome" Jen said as she saw the woman out.

Ducky's phone rang as soon as the door had closed behind them.

"Right" he said into it after a while. "Tell Mr. Palmer that I'll be back there in an hour or two. And I will speak to _you_ later."

"Problems, Duck?" Gibbs asked when he slipped his phone back into his pocket.

"Big case in Maryland. Jordan needs to get back. Which means that _I_ .."

"Need to get back to DC."

"Considering you won't be able to assist me with this autopsy" Jen began "I'd say it's perfect timing."

"Quite so" Ducky said as he reached for his coat and hat.

"I'll walk you to the elevator" she said, not particularly keen to be alone with Jethro, but knowing it was inevitable – at least until Ziva returned.

"Jennifer" the older medical examiner said when they were standing at the end of the hallway. "I have no doubt that Jethro will get to the bottom of this, but .."

Jen smiled and reached for his hand.

"I'll stay in touch this time, Ducky. We have a lot of catching up to do. And I would very much like to get to know Jordan better."

Ducky smiled and tipped his hat at her once before stepping into the elevator.

"I'll see you later, Jethro" he said as the doors slid closed.

Jen took a deep breath and turned around. As she'd expected he was standing right behind her.

"You can't be here when the body arrives" she said simply, wanting to make sure this didn't become personal now that they were alone.

"If she checks out I won't be. But Ziva will."

Jen nodded, knowing better than to argue. She risked a look up at him and found him looking at her - his face awash with something that was halfway between concern and what might have been regret.

She bit her lip for a moment, and then she took the plunge.

"Ducky told you, didn't he?" she said with a disbelieving shake of her head; walking away when the look in his eyes told her what she needed to know.

He was about to call after her when his cell phone went off.

"Yeah, Abs .." he said.

"Clean as a whistle Gibbs. Cleaner, in fact."

"What about the other stuff?" he asked, his eyes on Jen's retreating form.

"Nothing from UPS. No cameras in the parking lots. But I did find a reporter who covered both Mitchell trials, who didn't believe he was innocent. He claims he wanted to write a book, so he's got the lot. Clippings, photos. Even some of the the sealed records. McGee's gone to his apartment. He says we're welcome to whatever he's got as long as we give it back to him when we're done. He's kinda interested in writing that book again now, I guess."

"That's good work, Abs. Have McGee meet me at the hospital with whatever he's got."

Gibbs put his phone back onto his belt, his thoughts once again on the woman in the morgue. He wasn't sure what purpose dredging up the past would serve now. When she'd come back from the water fountain she'd been quiet. Passive even. He was almost sure he'd been caught watching her a few times, but she hadn't responded in kind. In fact she'd barely spoken to him at all. And when she had, the eyes that had sparkled the night before were dull. Not angry, just dull. Like the ache that gnawed at his insides when he thought about what they could have had. For a moment he revisited the sense of loss he'd felt when she'd gone into the program; the very brief respite he'd felt with Stephanie; the moment he'd realised that he wasn't cut out to be anyone's husband, and that he'd hurt another woman who's only fault had been to love him.

Yet walking on eggshells around each other wasn't much of an option either. Especially not under circumstances when he needed her to trust him. He reflected for a moment longer, and took one step towards the morgue door. He was stopped by the _ding_ of the elevator. Ziva stepped out, accompanied by a woman wearing a scarf round her head. Behind them an female orderly rolled a gurney. He looked down as they passed by him.

"Ziva" he called just as she was about to enter the room after Margaret Lupescu.

Ziva turned slowly after she had ushered the woman inside.

"No matter what she says, I want you in that room at all times. I'll be at the hospital with McGee."

"Understood."

"Call me when it's done. Your impressions?" he asked, nodding towards the door.

"There are many things I do not undestand" Ziva said with a shrug. "According to her, the members are free to come and go as they wish as long as they observe the rules. And as long as they go away in pairs."

"To keep each other in check."

"A few days ago two of them ran away. One of them was found yesterday, dead. The other one is still missing."

"She seem worried?"

"Yes. She was very adamant that nobody is held against their will, that there is no brainwashing, and that is not a cult but a group. She claims she is trying to teach them to be self-sufficient and self-aware, and that having a man in their life should not define them."

"She a man-hater?"

"I do not believe so. She herself was married for many years. She believes that there is too much pressure put on young girls to view men as their saviour, as the be all and end all of their existence. She believes that she has been called to teach them to respect themselves more than that. To grow within themselves before they start to live their lives."

"Anyone ever leave the group?"

"She sends them out into the world, as she calls it, when they are twenty-five. She makes sure they have a job and that they are set up in their own place. When they leave they are free to marry if they so wish."

Gibbs was about to pass an acerbic remark when his phone went off. He listened to McGee talk for a while before closing his phone and nodding towards the door again with a look that Ziva couldn't fail to understand.

"I will not let her out of my sight" she said.

_________________________________________________________

"What are we looking for, Boss?" McGee asked an hour later as they sat in the cafeteria of the nearby hospital poring over a stack of photographs.

"Pictures like _this_" Gibbs said, as he flicked through the images and found what he was looking for.

McGee took a look at the photo that Gibbs was holding out.

"This happened in ninety-nine, and again during the second trial."

"Guess they believed he was innocent" McGee said as he looked at the group of people holding placards, standing outside the court house.

"We're looking for a photo that has a close up of this man" Gibbs said, his finger dropping onto a figure holding a large sign that said _Burn in hell, heartless bitch_.

"Who is he?"

"Bobby Lucas. He managed one of Mitchell's New England clinics."

"Was he ever a suspect?"

Gibbs shook his head.

"We questioned all of Mitchell's employees."

"And the _heartless bitch_ is .."

"Jen" Gibbs acknowledged. "Mitchell made a big show of appealing to her as a doctor. Lucas sent letters to the _Washington Post_, claiming Jen was using Mitchell's profession against him. He was still blaming her when the second trial rolled around – even if Jen had been in the program for two years by then."

"Here" McGee said suddenly, as he found what they were looking for.

Gibbs took one look at the photo and rose from his seat.

___________________________________________________________

Jen stared at the body of the young woman on her table as Margaret Lupescu left the room.

"Are you alright?" Ziva asked as she watched emotion cloud the face of the woman in front of her.

Jen looked up at her – at a loss where to begin explaining what was running through her mind. Not sure she could to talk to a stranger about it even if she had the desire to. The haunted look in Margaret Lupescu's eyes refused to leave her. The woman had cradled the body of the young woman on the table as though she'd been her own child. She'd wept as she'd talked of her hopes for her young charges; of the sense of self that she wanted to help them discover; of her fears for the missing girl.

"I do not trust her" Ziva said, when nothing was forthcoming. "She says that the girls were free to come and go as they wished. But why would two of them run away if they were not being held against their will?"

Jen shrugged.

"Perhaps the answer lies with the body" she said, as she pulled on her scrubs.

"You _liked_ her ..." Ziva said in amazement.

"Yes" Jen replied. "I think she loves her girls. She wants to protect them. To shelter them from a world that imposes ideas about the ideal woman on them and forces them to seek validation through others at the expense of their true selves."

"And yet they ran. It is possible that things that said or did may have scared them off."

"I doubt it was intentional" Jen said. "She seemed sincere. Sometimes things do not work out as you intend. Sometimes you can't control the outcome."

She bit her lip for a moment, her mind running to Jethro again. To the way he'd looked at her earlier in the corridor. For an instant there'd been hurt and confusion in his eyes, and then they'd closed down. She'd walked away wondering whether he would come after her. He hadn't. No matter what had almost transpired between them the night before, it was the confirmation that things between them had changed. The past was dead. It was time to let go.

_________________________________________________________

"Abs, Bobby Lucas" Gibbs said as he strode from Kandon's room.

"Who?" she asked, even as her fingers flew across the keyboard.

"Run a search for Bobby Lucas."

"Gibbs ... there's like _two hundred_ Bobby Lucases just on the East Coast."

"Kandon took the package from him last night. He identified him from one of the photos. Pacci and I interviewed him in ninety-nine. He's on his way down to help you."

"I'm here Jethro" a voice said in the background.

"Di Nozzo .." Gibbs called over the speakerphone.

"Here, Boss .."

"Gibbs .. we've found him" Abby interrupted. "He's got priors."

"Yeah. Mitchell picked him off the street, gave him a second chance."

"Larceny, grand theft auto, drug possession" Abby rattled off, "and .. whoa ... "

"What?" Gibbs snapped.

"In nineteen ninety-six he did time for assault and battery. It was his girlfriend, Gibbs. He cut her up pretty bad."

"Di Nozzo .."

"On my way to pick him up" Tony said, already on his way out the door.

"Take Pacci with you" Gibbs said. "Bring him in and sit on him till I get there. Abs, what else ya got?"

"We're down to box twenty-nine" she said with a sigh. "Still nothing."

"Keep lookin'" Gibbs said before he hung up.

______________________________________________________________

Two hours later Gibbs stood watching Bobby Lucas from the observation room.

"I want to speak to Agent Gibbs" Lucas spat at Pacci.

"Agent Gibbs isn't available" the agent replied calmly.

"The hell he isn't" Lucas snarled in the direction of the two-way glass. "I know he's back there. Probably with that Shepard bitch. Are you trying to ruin my life all over again, Agent Gibbs?" he shouted. "Because if you are, you should at least have the decency to come in here and do it in person."

"You're not gonna interrogate him, Boss?" Tony asked, a bit stupefied.

"Not yet" Gibbs replied, his eyes still on the man in the room.

His cell phone rang.

"I think I may have something" Ducky said at the other end.

"On my way" Gibbs said, leaving the room without a so much as a backward glance.

"This is a rather cryptic note" the medical examiner said as he held up a piece of paper for Gibbs to look at. "Cryptic, but revealing nonetheless."

"_I saw her_" Gibbs read. "Think he means Jen?"

"I'm almost sure of it" Ducky said. "And it was written by someone left handed."

"There's no return address, and none of the prints on the envelope or on the paper match what's on file for Lucas" Abby explained, "but there's one sure way to connect this letter back to him."

"And what's that?"

"Apart from your fingers, which other part of the anatomy do you use when sealing a letter?"

"Can you get DNA off the envelope?"

"Off the back of the stamp. Well ... always assuming he licked it" she qualified. "And .. um .. always assuming you can get him to give you a DNA sample. Because there isn't one on file either."

"McGee .." Gibbs said without looking round.

"Boss?" the young agent asked with trepidation.

"Get Lucas to volunteer a DNA sample."

"Me, Boss?"

Gibbs looked at him hard and long, and then he smiled.

"You got Celia Roberts to give you a signed confession, you'll get Lucas to agree to a swab test."

______________________________________________

**Author's note:**

Celia Roberts was the convict in the Season 6 episode _Caged_.


	12. Chapter 12

"So what's the plan, Boss?" Tony asked as Gibbs returned to the observation room with Godfrey in tow.

Gibbs merely smiled and angled his head.

"You can't be serious .." the younger agent breathed as the door to the interrogation room opened and McGee slipped inside.

"Where's Gibbs?" Lucas snarled. "I want to speak to Gibbs."

"Agent Gibbs is busy with another case" McGee said.

"Who are you?"

"Agent Timothy McGee."

"You know what, I've had it up to _here_ with you guys" Lucas said gesticulating wildly.

"I know it's been a long few hours, Mr. Lucas" McGee said as he made himself comfortable in his seat and pulled out a notepad. "But I would like to to ask you a few questions."

Pacci leaned back in his seat and smiled.

"It's the end of your life as you know it, scumbag."

"You see what I have to put up with, Agent McGee?" Lucas said. "Threats, harassment. This is against my rights. I want a lawyer."

"And you'll get one" McGee placated "_if_ you become a suspect. At the moment you're just a person of interest. And I simply need to ask you some questions."

"I'm not answering any stinkin' questions. And I'm not talking to anyone except Agent Gibbs. So you come out of there, ya hear?" he shouted in the direction of the glass.

"Give it up, Lucas" Pacci threw at him. "If Gibbs wanted to talk to you he'd be in here, not watching. You gonna tell me what I wanna know?"

"Look .." McGee intervened when Lucas bristled and rubbed his palms together nervously, "things got off on the wrong foot here. Lets all just calm down. Here .." he said, pushing an empty cup over to Lucas and pouring some water out of a bottle into it, "just .. drink. Interrogation makes you a little dehydrated. Calm down, and then we'll talk. A few really basic questions. After that I'll see if Agent Gibbs is available."

"And get his ugly mug out of my face" Lucas said, looking daggers at Pacci.

Pacci made a dismissive sound and rose to his feet. Bringing pressure to bear by circling Lucas as he took a long swallow of water.

"Now, lets try this again" McGee started after a few moments had elapsed. "Last night you approached James Kandon, a delivery man for UPS, at a sorting facility in Portsmouth, Virginia about delivering a package for you. Why?"

"Well .." Lucas said with a wry smile, "I guess you'd have to prove that I did first."

"We _have_ proved it, Mr. Lucas. Kandon identified you from this picture."

"Maybe he's lying."

"Or maybe _you're_ lying, Bobby" Pacci said.

"He picked you out from this photo" McGee said as he slipped one of the courthouse photos in front of him. "There's a lot of people in that picture. Kinda funny that he picked you instead of, say, this man or this one here."

Lucas laughed sourly.

"You really think I'm gonna fall for this good cop bad cop shit?" he said derisively.

"Shoulda been more careful, Bobby-boy .." McGee taunted, his demeanour changing suddenly. "Shoulda covered your face. Worn a hooded jacket .."

"You think you can come in here and be nice, offer me water, empathise with me .. and that'll make me spill my guts? Is that what you think? Is that why he sent you in here instead of coming himself? Because he couldn't pull that off?"

Lucas' voice rose in pitch as he hurled his cup at the glass window in anger.

McGee smiled and stood from his seat, pulling on a set of rubber gloves as he did.

"Actually, no."

Lucas' eyes snapped to McGee and then he looked down at the cup that McGee was picking up off the floor.

"You think you can get my DNA off that cup?" he shouted. "I didn't give you my permission. It'll never stand up in court."

"Shouldn't you be more interested in _why_ we want your DNA?" McGee asked as he bagged the item.

"It goes against the Fourth Amendment."

McGee smiled again.

"If you lived in Alaska, Colorado, Florida or Georgia you'd be in luck. But you are a resident of the District of Columbia, and the state upholds testing of discarded samples. Shouldn't have lost your temper, Bobby-boy."

"You provoked me" Lucas said, picking up the water bottle and hurling it at him.

"Add asault of a federal agent to the list" McGee threw over his shoulder at Pacci as he left the room.

On the other side of the glass Gibbs smiled, picked up a folder, and slipped out of the room.

"He's ready for you Boss" Mcgee said as they crossed paths in the hallway. "I'm gonna get this down to Abby."

Gibbs nodded.

"McGee" he called after him.

"Boss?"

"Nice work in there" he said with a tight nod before he turned away.

As he entered the room and sat in front of Lucas in stony silence, Godfrey turned to Tony in the observation room.

"What is Gibbs doing?"

"T.B.I."

"Excuse me?"

"Truth By Intimidation. In five ... four .. three ... two ... one ..."

Godfrey stared at Gibbs, and then back at Tony.

"Was something supposed to happen?"

"Usually they start to spill their guts right about now" Tony said in confusion.

"Heard you wanted to see me" Gibbs said after a few more moments of silence.

_____________________________________________________________

"Do you think Timothy will get the sample?"

"His time in the big house really changed him, Ducky" Abby said proudly. "And he was a man on a mission. Sent by El Gibbso. So I am sure that he .."

"Got the sample" McGee said as he sauntered into the lab.

"Yay" Abby said, relieving him of the cup. "I'll get on it right away. Lets see if we can nail this -"

"Run the test, Abby .. but I fear we are all in for a disappointment" Ducky said as he rose hurriedly from his seat and left the lab with various sheets of paper in his hand.

"What was that all about?" McGee asked.

"I have no idea.

______________________________________________________________

"So what's it like not having to take orders from Mitchell anymore?"

"I haven't seen Jonas in seven years" Lucas spat, his eyes blazing.

"Hey Duck ..." Tony said on the other side of the glass as the medical examiner walked into the room. "Gibbs is getting ready to go full throttle on this guy's ass."

Ducky watched the man in custody carefully but didn't comment.

"That may be so, but it didn't stop you writing to him though, did it?" Gibbs said, sliding the letter across the table to him.

"_I saw her_" Lucas read slowly. "_The bitch doesn't look as young as she used to, but there's still fire there_. _Fire that needs to be put out."_

His eyes rose to meet Gibbs'.

"You still screwing her, Agent Gibbs?" he asked in an amused voice.

"This is all wrong" said Ducky on the other side.

"You think he isn't involved?"

"Oh no. There was a smile when he mentioned Jenny. Bobby Lucas is definitely involved. But he's telling the truth about one thing. He didn't send that letter."

"Where are you going?"

"To tell Jethro."

"Ducky ..." Tony protested.

"What do you think?" Godfrey asked.

"Glad the glass is bulletproof - because rule number twenty-two is never _ever_ bother Gibbs in interrogation."

"You know that as soon as I get a DNA match you're history" Gibbs said levelly to Lucas.

"Look, I don't know nothin' about no letter" Lucas said. "God, It's starting all over again isn't it? Except that bitch is trying to frame _me_ now. First it was Jonas, and now it's me."

Before Gibbs could answer there was a knock on the door, and Ducky popped his head round it.

"Uh… could I have a word with you?"

"Working."

"It's related, and important."

"What is it Duck?" Gibbs asked irately as he stepped into the corridor.

"I've been watching him Jethro. He's nervous. And it isn't because he's intimidated by you. The person who did this would not be."

"You can give me your professional opinion _after_ I've finished interrogating the suspect."

"You're barking up the wrong tree" Ducky said, placing a hand on Gibbs arm as he turned to go back inside.

"Your gut telling you this?"

"No. _These_" Ducky said, as he handed over a few sheets of paper.

"What am I looking at?" Gibbs asked as he pulled out his glasses and looked them over.

"Application forms" Ducky said. "Lucas hasn't held down a job longer than six months since Mitchell went down. I had Abby track down his last six or seven employers. They've all been menial jobs. Jobs that he applied for in person, not online. _Handwritten_ application forms, Jethro. I've compared them to the letter sent to Mitchell. The writing is world's apart."

"You're sure about this ..."

"Positive."

________________________________________________

"Gibbs is not answering his phone" Ziva said irritably into Tony's ear, "and I have a situation here."

"He was in interrogation" Tony said, slipping out of the observation room in time to see Ducky and Gibbs rounding the corner. "Missed him. Try him again. Or try the lab. I think they're probably headed that way. What's going on? You sound stressed?"

"I do not like babysitting" was all she said before she hung up on him.

_________________________________________________

"Hey! When are you coming – yes, he just walked in. It's for you" Abby said as she handed the phone over to Gibbs.

"What's up?" he asked.

"Doctor Shepard and I are having a difference of opinion."

"About?"

"I was not informed that there was an event."

"What event?"

"Doctor Shepard is getting ready to leave. She has told me that I cannot accompany her onto the sound stage. I do not like it Gibbs. I cannot protect her this way. I cannot sit in another room while they are taping this show."

"What show? Put her on, Ziva. What's going on, Jen?" he said when she came on the line.

"It's the third Tuesday of the month, Jethro. On the third Tuesday of the month I sit on a panel for a television show about murders on the East Coast. We tape the show, and it's shown on the last Tuesday of the month."

"And you didn't think it was important to tell me that you've been on television?" he shot back, his voice taking on an edge.

"It's a small show, Jethro. Very few people watch it."

"Jennifer ..." Ducky voice came over the line as he hit the speakerphone button. "Do you remember what the first airdate was?"

"Um ... I'd have to check, but I think it was .."

"Anywhere around September 30th?"

"That sounds right. Why?"

Ducky held an envelope up to Gibbs as he answered.

"The postmark on the letter to Mitchell is postmarked October 1st. One day later. That's the connection, Jethro. That's where the killer saw Jen."

"On the television show?" Jen asked incredulously.

"It's the only thing that makes sense. Even if it was by fluke and not design, I suspect"

"I want you to get into the car and come to NCIS _now_" Gibbs said.

"No. This is the last show and I have to be there."

"Jen, if something happens in the studio Ziva can't protect you."

"And I can't live my life runnng from shadows, Jethro."

"This isn't a discussion, Jen."

"You're right. It isn't. I know that one way or the other you are going to get this guy, but I am not running away this time."

"You didn't run away last time, Jen. You went into witness protection for your own safety."

"Last time you called the shots."

"If I hadn't you'd probably be six feet under today."

"You could have protected me yourself."

"I was on probation, Jen. Flying a desk."

"Since when would have that stopped you?"

The silence that descended chilled her to the bone, and she knew she'd crossed the line – that what she'd said hadn't been fair. But it had come bubbling to the surface before she'd considered her words. After days of being careful around him things had unravelled. And now she couldn't take it back.

"I have to go" she said, as she grabbed her bag from the desk and headed for the door.

"I'm on it Gibbs" Ziva said into the receiver before she put it back in its cradle and followed her out.

Gibbs replaced the receiver but said nothing. Abby looked at him sadly and then her fingers started flying over the keyboard.

"When I run a search on Dr. Alex Anderson, this comes up" she said, indicating various links on her screen. "Here's the cable show. It's called _Murder Matters_. Cool name. Anyway, here's what I'm thinking. Since this is a show that you can only watch on cable, people need to have a subscription to be able to watch it. Working under the assumption that our killer didn't know that Mitchell was going to die, and didn't think anyone would ever see this letter apart from Mitchell, it's possible that this letter was mailed from his neighbourhood. Or at least close to his home. So, if I cross-reference the zipcode on the postmark with the records from the cable companies, I should be able to narrow the number of potential addresses down to a few ... um .. thousand?"

"Do it, Abs" Gibbs said.

"Oh .. and by the way ..." she continued, "if we're working under that assumption, our boy Lucas really didn't write that letter. According to his driver's licence, he lives over a hundred miles away from this zipcode."

"Call me when you've got something" Gibbs said, as he turned on his heel and walked away.

Abby looked at Ducky, her eyebrows rising.

"They were an item, huh?" she said.

____________________________________

"Does everyone know what they're doing?"

Tony addressed a joint FBI and NCIS task force two hours later.

"What I want from each and every one of you is a hard-target search of every gas station, residence, warehouse, farmhouse, henhouse, outhouse and doghouse in that area."

Gibbs slapped him upside the head as he passed by, and he started over.

"We're going door to door. Turns out this is a rural area. We're looking at two hundred houses at most. But we won't know what we're looking for until we find it, so be vigilant."

Gibbs' cell phone rang as he was about to get into the car.

"McGee is on his way to relieve you" he said to Ziva. "Get some rest. Report to NCIS in the morning. I'll call you if we need you."

____________________________________________________________

"How many more on that list?" Tony asked wearily a long while later.

"Three. Next one's right round the corner" Godfrey said.

"Looks like nobody's home .." Tony said as they pulled into the driveway.

"Looks like nobody's been home for a while" Godfrey said as he took in the number of newspapers piled up on the porch.

"I'd say a good three or four weeks" Tony said, pulling out his cell phone. "Boss..." he said into it. "Empty house. 351 Tamarack Avenue. It seems as though it's been empty for a few weeks. We're going in. Right. See you when you get here. Lets check round back" he said to Godfrey as closed his phone.

"That as easy as it looks?" the FBI agent asked as he watched Tony fiddle with the lock to the garage door.

"Simple pin and tumbler design" Tony said as the door opened and he stepped inside. "Now this one .. not as simple" he said when he saw the one on the mud room door.

Godfrey looked on as Tony slammed his elbow into one of the panes of glass and reached through.

"But the good news is that it's got a twister on the inside" he added as he reached inside. He closed his eyes as he turned it and opened the door. When no alarm went off he breathed a bit easier. "We're in."

Together they went through the house.

"Looks like whoever lives here's been gone for a while" Godfrey said, running his finger through a layer of dust.

"Yeah" Tony said as he checked the living room and headed upstairs. "Clear Boss" he said into his phone when they'd gone through the room. "Where are you?"

"Right behind you, Di Nozzo."

"Boss" he replied, shivering a little. "I hate it when you do that."

"Keeps you on your toes" Gibbs said as he walked past him into the master bedroom.

His phone rang as he was walking out of the ensuite bathroom.

"Gibbs ..." Abby said breathlessly. "That address you just gave me? You'll never believe who it belongs to."

"Randy Mitchell" Gibbs said as his eyes fell on a photo on the dresser. "Jonas Mitchell's brother."


	13. Chapter 13

"What've you got, Abs?"

"Incontrovertible proof that Lucas did _not_ send that letter" she said, holding up test results. "DNA is not a match."

Gibbs nodded and turned to go.

"I'm not done, Gibbs" the goth said with wide eyes. Smiling when he turned back round.

"Randy Mitchell attended medical school. University of Pennsylvania."

"Following in the footsteps of his big brother, no doubt."

"Bit early for you to be here, isn't it Duck?" Gibbs said.

"I couldn't sleep."

"Yeah .. me either" Abby said. "Anyway, Randy switched both university and courses. And we know what he switched to."

"Law" Gibbs supplied.

"Exactly. Which brings us to the next interesting part of the story. It seems that Jonas Mitchell was not the only member of the Mitchell family that Lucas owed. In nineteen ninety-six Bobby Lucas was brought up on charges of assault and battery. Guess who posted bail and got him a reduced sentence ..."

"Lucas and Randy Mitchell have history."

"They do. Lots of history. In fact Randy defended him more than once."

"Was he on the legal team when Jonas went to trial in ninety-nine?"

Abby shook her head. "But guess who filed the lawsuit against NCIS .."

"Randy Mitchell."

"Now what I don't understand is why I can't find any trace of Randy Mitchell for the past three and a half weeks. It's like he disappeared off the face of the earth."

"His car wasn't in the garage" Gibbs said. "Tony put out a BOLO. No hits so far."

"I know. But there haven't been any charges on his credit cards, Gibbs. Not from gas stations, not from anywhere."

"Using cash. Not leaving a paper trail."

"But he'd need a place to stay, food. Three weeks is a long time. How much cash was this guy carrying around? It doesn't make any sense. I've been going through his bank records. There's nothing Gibbs. The last time he made a withdrawal was over two months ago, and the last activity on his account was the deposit of his paycheck." Her head snapped up suddenly. "It doesn't make any sense. _U__nless_ ..."

"What?" Gibbs asked, as her fingers started flying over the keyboard again.

Abby had just opened her mouth to answer when Gibbs' cell phone went off. The slight snippiness in his tone as he answered belied his calm exterior, and made Abby and Ducky exchange an anxious look.

"Why are you calling me at 0540, McGee?"

"It may be nothing Boss .."

"If you thought it was nothing you wouldn't be calling. What's goin' on?"

He heard McGee take a deep breath, and when he spoke again he could hear the nervousness in his voice.

"The phone's been ringing off the hook for the past half an hour."

"And?"

"I picked it up twice, and both times the line went dead."

"You traced it?"

"Um .. no."

"You waiting for an invitation, McGee?"

"I'm on it" Abby said next to him, as she pulled up Jenny's home phone number off the sheet she'd been given with her particulars. "Accessing phone records now ... the last two calls came from ... a phone box on Capon Streeet. Last call came in three minutes twenty-one seconds ago." She pulled up a map of the area. "Gibbs ... the phone box is only a few streets away from her house."

"Why didn't Jenny answer the phone?" Gibbs demanded suddenly.

"She's uh .. in the shower, and she doesn't have a cordless phone."

"How long's she been in there? You said it's been ringing off the hook .."

"About ... um ... forty minutes .."

Gibbs felt his blood run cold.

"Jenny takes five minute showers, McGee. Something's wrong."

McGee was behind the bathroom door in moments.

"Doctor Shepard" he called, knocking on the door – blood pounding in his ears. "Are you alright in there? She isn't answering, Boss."

"Water still running?"

"No."

"Break it down."

"Boss?"

"Break it down, McGee."

The sounds of splintering wood echoed in his ear milliseconds later.

"She isn't here. Window's open. No sign of a struggle. Boss, I'm ..."

"Get out there."

McGee eased himself out of the window.

"I"m in the back garden" he said. "Gate onto the street's unlocked."

McGee stood in the middle of the road looking right and left. Totally at a loss.

Back at NCIS, Abby watched Gibbs run a hand across his face.

"What should I do, Boss?" McGee asked.

"Call Godfrey. Tell him I'm gonna need 'im. That phone box needs to be checked for prints. I'm on my wa-"

"Gibbs ..." Abby called. "I accessed Jenny's cell phone records to see if any calls had been placed to it."

"And?"

"The phone's in service right now."

"Triangulate it" he snapped. "Stay on the line, McGee."

"Triangulating now. She's ... she's on Truman Street."

"Truman Street" Gibbs barked down his phone at McGee.

"Gibbs, that's the street right behind her house. It's where McGee is."

"I see her, Boss" McGee said as he approached the figure leaning against a utility phone - breathing heavily and talking into her phone.

"Put her on" he said, causing Abby to share another look with Ducky as the anxiety rolling off him morphed into what felt like anger.

"Doctor Shepard, are you okay?"

Jen's head shot up, but she held up a hand at him as she carried on with her conversation.

"Gibbs wants to talk to you .." McGee said slowly, holding his phone out to her.

"Don't go away" she said to the person she'd been talking to.

"Yes Jethro?" she said, her tone already defensive.

"Where were you?"

"I went for a run."

"Without telling McGee?"

Jen looked up at the younger agent.

"He doesn't seem like the running type of guy" she said. "And I didn't think my running clothes would look good on him."

"Damn it, Jen .. you have a detail for a reason."

"I was just on my way home. No harm, no foul."

"That would depend on who's been calling you for the past half an hour."

Jen breathed deeply.

"Margaret Lupescu" she said. "They found the second girl about an hour ago. The authorities are giving her a hard time about the autopsy. She was hoping I could pull some strings."

"How'd she get your numbers?" Gibbs demanded.

"I gave them to her" she said indignantly.

"Why'd she hang up on McGee?"

"She doesn't talk to men, Jethro. You know that."

"You give her your address as well?"

"No. _What is this_?"

"She was calling from a phone box a few streets away from your house, Jen."

"Your point?"

"My point is that there's someone out there baying for your blood. You can't go around giving your number to women like Margaret Lupescu."

"_Women like Margaret Lupescu_?" she said in disbelief.

"Get back in the house, Jen."

"Which part of _I'm not going into hiding_ is eluding you , Jethro?" she asked. "I am not going to sit at home until you track down someone who doesn't have a name."

"We do have a name. Randy Mitchell."

"Jonas's brother?" she asked, a slight tremor to her voice.

"Yeah. And he's gone underground. We have no idea where he is."

Jen straightened up.

"Then find him" she said quietly. "But in the meantim I have a job to do. I'll be the morgue – doing an autopsy on a seventeen year old girl."

"Jen ..." Gibbs said. But she'd hung up on him.

"I'm on my way in" she said into her own phone as she handed McGee's back to him. "Don't worry. I'll make a few calls. We'll sort it out."

Tony walked into the lab just as Gibbs snapped his phone shut.

"Bad time?" he asked.

"What else have we got on Randy Mitchell?" Gibbs asked Abby.

"Randy Mitchell hasn't gone underground" Abby said as she pulled up what she'd been working on just before McGee called.

"Then where's he gone?"

"To Tokyo" she answered.

"What's he doing in Tokyo?"

"It didn't make sense to me why a man would take off and not charge anything to his credit card. Randy Mitchell was a .. fairly big spender. He's got three credit cards to his name. American Express, Visa, and Mastercard. This year alone he bought lacrosse equipment, new skis, and a plasma TV. He's got subscriptions and a gym membership. But nothing showed up for the past three weeks. And then I saw it."

"Saw what?" Tony asked.

"His Mastercard is affiliated with _American Airlines_."

"So?" Tony pushed.

"If he has a credit card from _American_, it must be his airline of choice. And then it occurred to me. What if he wasn't using his own credit card. What if he was using the company credit card .."

"You telling me he's abroad on business?" Gibbs asked.

"Yup. Immigration records show he flew out of Dulles three days after his brother was murdered. Came home for the funeral, and went back to Tokyo less than twelve hours later. He hasn't been back since."

"Who's he working for?"

"Randy Mitchell is one of the founding partners of _Mitchell and Saitama"_ she said as she pulled up a website. "They do a lot of corporate business in both countries."

"It would give him a legitimate reason to be in and out of Japan all the time" Ducky said.

"And it would seem" Abby said as her fingers tapped the keyboard "that the family even have a house there. Just outside Tokyo. I can find out how often he's been in Japan."

Gibbs nodded and turned away for a moment, still rankling from his run in with Jen.

"Gibbs ..." Abby called suddenly.

"Yeah .." he said as he looked up at the plasma.

"Are you seeing what I'm seeing?"

Gibbs looked hard and long at the screen, and then his eyes narrowed as something occurred to him.

"Di Nozzo. Put Lucas in Interrogation One."

______________________________________________

**Author's note:**

This chapter was supposed to wrap things up, but I got a late start this morning, and now I need to go out. So I figure it's better to have half an update than none at all ... so I'm stopping here and will continue tomorrow.


	14. Chapter 14

**Author's note:**

Some of these parts are happening in parallel – but it's impossible to write them that way. So ... erm .. keep that in mind as you read.

__________________________________________________

"How did we miss this, Jethro?"

"Because once the shit hit the fan the case was turned over to the FBI, Duck. We were taken off the case and investigated. Once Jonas walked they didn't look further. Pretty sure they felt they had no recourse to look into his family. You get me those records, Abs?"

"Here .." she said as they came up on the plasma.

"Jethro ..." Ducky said as Gibbs stared at the screen. "He's been protecting this person for a long time."

"As far back as ninety-nine" Gibbs postulated as he ran a hand across his face.

"There's a very strong connection here. Very few things would make a person cover up for another person like this."

"Yeah. And I think I know what it is" Gibbs said just as his cell phone went off. "On my way, Di Nozzo. I'll be in interrogation" he said as he put one last thing in his folder and walked out of the lab.

__________________________________________________________

"It's all over the news" McGee said, fiddling with the radio.

Jen shook her head sadly as she took a sip of coffee from a travel mug. There was silence for a while, but as they drew into the parking lot she looked over at him.

"Is the _don't apologise_ rule still in effect?"

"For Gibbs."

"You don't follow Gibbs' rules?"

"I do - just don't agree with _that one_."

"Tim, I'm sorry about earlier. I -"

McGee smiled and shook his head.

"You don't have to explain .."

Jen nodded gratefully before unfastening her seat belt and getting out of the car.

"So what's your _favourite_ rule?" she asked as they crossed over to the building.

"Fifteen."

"Touche'" she said, although her voice was gentle and she didn't seem to have taken offence.

"Do _you_ have a favourite?"

"What? Rule?"

"Yeah."

"Eighteen."

"You're using his own rules against him."

"It's not my only favourite rule."

But McGee didn't return her smile.

"You need to trust him, Doctor Shepard. He _will_ find Randy Mitchell."

"I know he will" she said quietly.

McGee bit his lip for a moment, and then he took the plunge.

"What was Gibbs like nine years ago?" he asked.

Jen looked up at him, and what he saw in her eyes made him wish he hadn't asked. But the moment passed and as she answered he knew she'd shuttered whatever she'd been feeling.

"Driven" she said as she looked away. "Always driven."

The ride down to the morgue was effected in silence. They stepped out into the hallway to find a man standing beside a gurney.

"Agent McGee?" the man asked.

"Who are you?"

"Peter Johnson, FBI" the man said.

"I need to see ID" McGee replied, he hand edging slightly towards his weapon when the man reached into his jacket with his left hand.

"Alex, do you remember me?" the man said as he handed over his wallet. "We met at the Christmas party over at the bureau."

McGee relaxed slightly when he saw recognition flare in Jen's eyes.

"We were expecting a woman" he said as he handed the badge back.

"Don't know anything about that" Peter said with a shrug. "I got a call from the bureau about half an hour ago saying I needed to do detail here effective immediately."

McGee nodded.

"Well the body's here already" Jen said as she picked up the paperwork on the gurney and rifled through it. "That's good, I can get started. You boys play nice out here."

"I need to check the room first."

"What .. you think someone's _hiding_ in my _morgue_?" Jen said with a small laugh as she unlocked the door.

But when McGee didn't budge she stepped aside and let him in ahead of her with a small sigh.

"Satisfied?" she teased when he'd checked every nook and cranny of her suite.

McGee nodded curtly and stepped outside. When he attempted to push the gurney inside for her she placed a hand on his arm.

"This group has rules too, Tim. And their most important one is _no interaction with men_. We need to respect that."

___________________________________________________________________________

"Those dates mean anything to you?" Gibbs said as he slid a piece of paper across the table.

"Should they?" Bobby Lucas said with a sneer.

"They should."

"And why should they?"

"Because you made calls to Doctor Shepard's home on those dates in ninety-nine."

"We're talking nine years ago" Lucas spat. "Prove it."

Gibbs smiled wryly.

"You know, Jonas Mitchell had airtight alibis for all of these dates. He was either in meetings or out of state. At the time we thought that he'd set things up so that a connection couldn't be made. But it wasn't Jonas at all, was it? He had no idea this was even going on."

"You're trying to frame me" Lucas said, staring back at him defiantly.

"Not me. But someone sure as hell is."

"Oh yeah? Gonna tell me who it is?"

Instead of answering the question, Gibbs slipped a photo in front of him.

"Know who this is?"

"Drew Mitchell" Lucas said slowly.

"You ever stop to think about why _you_ were chosen?"

Lucas looked up at him and blinked rapidly.

"You didn't think it was your looks, did you? Or your charm? You were chosen because you were lefthanded. An ex-con. Blindly devoted to Jonas. But low enough in the food chain that nobody would suspect you."

"Damn right nobody suspected me. I din't do nothin'"

"But the person you're protecting did. The person you're protecting did _this, _and_ this, _and_ this, _and _this_" Gibbs said, smiling dangerously as he slid crime scene photos across the table at him.

Lucas covered his mouth and gagged as he took in the nature of the wounds.

"Did the sex come _before_ or _after_ your services?"

Lucas's eyes widened in a way that convinced Gibbs think he'd hit on the truth.

"Sex first, threats later Lucas? What would have happened if Randy had found out? Or, worse still, Jonas .. your idol."

"You can't prove anything" Lucas said.

"Drew Mitchell's the key" Gibbs , tapping the photo.

"He's eight years old" Lucas said incredulously.

"Precisely" Gibbs said. "See ... it never made any sense to me why the killings stopped for two years. Until now. The killings stopped because Drew was on the way."

Lucas's mouth trembled as Gibbs pushed another set of crime scene photos in front of him.

"Take your time Lucas. See the similarities? These are recent murders. Same style, same hand. A _left _hand."

Lucas gagged but Gibbs pushed on.

"Now take a good look at this photo and tell me what you see" he said as he pushed the photo he had taken from Randy's dresser towards him.

Lucas looked at the photo of Randy's wedding day. He was looking over his wife's shoulder as she signed the register; the pen held elegantly in her left hand.

"Kate Mitchell had a difficult pregnancy" Gibbs said as he slid hospital records towards him. "Hospitalised several times, and then placed on indefinite bed rest at twenty weeks. But Drew was born a few weeks early anyway. And premature babies need a lot more attention than babies born full term."

He observed Lucas as he spoke. His defiance had dissipated, and in front of him sat a man who was starting to realise that he'd been taken advantage of by someone he thought the world of. And that he was going to face the music alone.

"No chance to participate in anything for two whole years" Gibbs continued. "Thing is, Jonas could only wait so long, and he killed again when he couldn't wait any longer. Only without _her_ his work was sloppy. Which is why I caught him."

"You're insane" Lucas said.

But his voice lacked its earlier conviction.

"My forensic scientist is running items found in the Mitchell household" Gibbs said as he pulled everything back into the folder and stood from his seat. "And I have no doubt that she will get a match on the DNA pulled from the letter mailed to Jonas."

"If you've got it all figured out why are you here with me?" Lucas asked.

Gibbs paused in the doorway.

"Tell me where she is and I'll cut you a deal."

"What kind of deal?"

Gibbs walked up to the table and threw the folder down. As the crime scene photos spilled out on the table Lucas started to rock backwards and forwards.

"I won't send you down as an accessory to murder."

"I don't know where she is."

"She's out there, Lucas. And I'm warning you – if she goes anywhere near Jenny Shepard you're going down."

"I don't know where she is. I swear. She said it was a way of getting back at Jenny Shepard. A way to scare her. To mess with her head. To pay her back for putting Jonas in jail. She .. she said she was responsible for his death. But I swear ..." he said, his voice shaking as he pushed the photos away from him. "I had nothing to do with any of this."

________________________________________________________________________________

Jen was in the process of unzipping the body bag when her phone rang. She checked the caller id before answering, and smiled as she picked up the receiver.

"Hi Deb" she said.

"Hey ... just wanted to let you know that I've dealt with all the red tape, and the bo-"

Jen's head snapped up as a chime echoed in the room. It took her a few seconds to realise that it was the equipment that Gibbs' team had set up.

"Can I call you back later?" she said to Debbie as she made her way over to the computer.

"Abby?" she said, as she found herself staring into the face of the goth.

"Hi. Do you know why McGee isn't answering his phone?"

"He's right outside. Hang on .. I'll check my phone" she said as she reached for her bag. "Ah .. no cell phone coverage. It happens sometimes. Do you want to talk to him? I haven't started yet. I can ca-"

She trailed off as Gibbs entered Abby's lab. He stopped as soon as he saw her.

"Jen ..." he said, his voice slightly hoarse.

___________________________________________________

"Have you got cell coverage?" Peter asked McGee.

McGee checked his phone and shook his head.

"That's weird. I did the other day."

"Service is patchy round here some days."

"If you need to make a call I've got it covered down here" McGee offered good-naturedly. "Autopsies take a while."

"I'll call later. Thanks though."

McGee tossed his head slightly in acknowledgement.

"You see a lot of action up your way?" Peter asked conversationally.

"Yeah. You?"

"I'm in the doghouse" Peter said as he paced.

"What'd ya do?"

"Shot myself in the leg while pursuing a supsect."

"How'd you manage that?" McGee asked, stupefied.

"Trust me, you don't wanna know" Peter replied. "Hey listen, what's the deal with this no touching business anyway?"

He shook his head as he listened to the explanation.

"Prince William Park is one weird place" he said. "Had a friend whose grandfather spent time down there. He was always telling us stories about the abandoned mine and such. "

"Oh yeah?"

"He worked for the OSS. Apparently they used it as their training ground for covert operations during World War Two."

"Wow .."

"Crazy stuff" Peter said. "So what about the leader?"

"Who?"

"Thought you said this was a group of women led by a woman .."

"Yeah. Margaret Lupsecu. Didn't you see her when the body came in?"

"It was already here whe-"

Their heads snapped up as the elevator doors slid open and a woman in a scarf stepped out. Behind her a female orderly pushed a gurney.

"Debbie should have called down by now" the orderly said in low respectful tones. "Doctor Shepard should be expecting the body."

McGee's eyes snapped to Peter's as they reached for their weapons.

_______________________________________________________

Jen felt the presence behind her even before she saw Abby's hand rise to her mouth and the paralysed look in Jethro's eyes. She knew she had milliseconds as crouched down and spun round. As she faced her aggressor the only thing she could focus on were the manic eyes. Kate Mitchell loomed above her, her left arm raised; one of Jen's scalpels in her hand. Knowing she would have only one chance at this Jen lunged upwards, severing her carotid artery in one expert swipe. Kate was staggering backwards when McGee burst into the room. Shots echoed through the room. And then the only sound Jen could hear was the sound of her own ragged breathing.

While Peter verified the kill, McGee made his way slowly over to Jenny.

"You okay?" he asked as he reholstered his weapon and reached for her carefully.

Jen nodded as she stepped into his arms. As a bloody knife clattered to the floor she let out a small laugh.

"And now you know what my other favourite rule is" she said as she started to shake uncontrollably.

McGee looked up at the computer screen - to where Gibbs, Ducky, and Abby stood frozen.

"Keep her warm, Timothy" Ducky said when he found his voice.

"What do you want me to do, Boss?" McGee asked.

Gibbs drew a long breath, his eyes fixed on Jen's shivering form.

"Bring her back here" was all he said.

____________________________________

**Author's note:**

_Rule Fifteen_ – always work as a team (season 5 episode, _Leap of Faith_).

_Rule Eighteen_ – it is better to seek forgiveness than ask permission. (season 3 episode, _Silver War_)

_OSS_ - Office of Strategic Services - established during World War II, and the predecessor of the CIA


	15. Chapter 15

"Is Randy Mitchell on his way back to the US?" Godfrey asked as he watched Abby working.

"Someone from the Yokosuka field office is talking to him" she said.

"Where's the kid?"

"With his dad."

"Huh?"

"In Japan. You know, Drew _has_ to be homeschooled" Abby explained. "Immigration records show that he flies into Japan with his father for weeks at a time. It's the only thing that makes sense. And they have a house there. He probably gets lessons in Japanese."

"Maybe his father is already grooming him to take over the business."

"Maybe."

"Is Randy even his father?" Godfrey asked, looking at the photo of the child on the counter.

Abby shrugged.

"Kids look like uncles and aunts and grandparents all the time. Nobody would have realised."

"Poor kid."

_"Poor Randy_" Abby added. "Not only is your brother a serial killer, but your wife is too. You know, when I pulled immigration records on him I found that he wasn't even in the country for most of the murders in ninety-nine."

"So Jonas and the sister-in-law .." Godfrey started to say before trailing off.

"I know, it's sick."

"_Sick_ doesn't even begin to describe what they did. You gotta wonder how they got into it in the first place though."

"Kate was actually in med school herself at some point. Till she dropped out. Chances are Jonas introduced her to Randy. Maybe to cover up what they wanted to do together. Or what they were already doing."

"So you think they'd done stuff before ninety-nine?"

"There was a certain level of _perfection_ to the murders according to Ducky. They weren't just starting out. Sure, Jonas was an experienced surgeon. But she wasn't."

"So there's really only one explanation for that."

"Yeah ..." Abby said with a nod. "Ah .... there goes my baby .."

"Baby?" Godfrey asked, looking round.

"It's a sequencer" she said as she looked at the results. "Okay, I need to let Gibbs know."

She picked up the phone.

"Hey Gibbs ..." she said. "Where are you?"

"On my way down to autopsy" he replied from the other end. "What's up?"

"DNA is a match. Kate Mitchell definitely sent that letter to Jonas. Gibbs, are you still there?"

"Yeah" he said after a short silence. "Good work, Abs."

Abby put the phone down and turned to Godfrey.

"How's he holding up?" he asked.

"I think he feels bad that he didn't realise that Kate Mitchell was involved last time. And that it took us so long to figure it out this time."

"He isn't much of a talker is he?"

Abby shook her head.

"How's Jenny?" she asked suddenly.

"I hung around at Ducky's house for a while last night" Godfrey said with a shrug "but she didn't really say much. I called this morning, but Jordan said she was still sleeping."

"Was Gibbs there last night?"

"No."

"Oh .." Abby said sadly. And then her face lit up. "Come on ..." she said, taking off her lab coat and pulling her coat off the coat rack. "I have an idea."

"Where are we going?"

Godfrey grinned widely when she told him.

"I'll help ... _if_ you let me take you to dinner tonight."

Abby grinned and linked her arm through his.

_"You_ have a deal. And if you're good I might even let you polish the casket later."

"What?" Godfrey asked in confusion as she pulled him out of the lab.

_______________________________________________________

Ducky looked up as the autopsy suite doors swooshed open.

"Ah .. Jethro" he said. "Is it time already?"

"No" Gibbs said, his eyes on Kate Mitchell's body on the steel table. "How's Jenny?"

"You'll see for yourself in a little bit" Ducky said, adding "won't you?" when nothing was forthcoming.

"Pacci needs help with a case."

I'm sure even _Pacci_ stops for lunch" Ducky said, somewhat acerbically. "This is about rebuilding bridges, Jethro, not demolishing or burning them."

When Gibbs still didn't talk the medical examiner zipped up the body bag and moved closer to him, his gaze penetrating and unflinching.

"I didn't come down here to get my head shrunk, Duck."

"Why _did_ you come down here?

"Just killing time."

"Would you like me to perform an autopsy on your watch?" Ducky asked - and this time he made no attempt to hide his disdain.

He wasn't surprised when his friend turned to leave without another word.

"Twelve o'clock at _The Equinox_ ... Jethro" he called after him. Sighing when Gibbs didn't stop walking.

______________________________________________

They'd all been in the lab when McGee had brought her to NCIS. Even Jordan. The atmosphere had been one of communal relief. Kate Mitchell was dead, the nightmare finally over. Abby had enveloped her in an embrace that had stolen her breath, and Jethro had actually had to pry her fingers loose. But he hadn't come anywhere near her beyond that. She'd fought the need to have him hold her, mostly because he hadn't seemed inclined to do so. He'd hung back as the others had milled round her and offered their own brand of comfort. He'd been awkward – clearly broadcasting that he no idea what to do with himself. His eyes carefully guarded. She'd been desperate for some time alone with him. To assure him that there was nothing he could have done – because she felt he needed to hear that from her - but the chance never presented itself. And he'd dropped by at Ducky's house later, but hadn't stayed.

And then there'd been lunch a few hours ago.

"_Nice of you could join us, Jethro" Ducky said as Gibbs sat at table with them._

_Jordan looked up at his tone, but he merely patted her on the hand and went back to the menu. Jen looked at Gibbs, but he too was looking through the menu._

"_I'll have whatever you're having" he said to Jordan when the server approached the table._

_To her credit, the medical examiner attempted to keep the conversation going, but there was too much history between the other three people at table. It would have been an uphill battle even if the underlying tension between Ducky and Gibbs hadn't been there. With that present on top of everything else it wasn't too long before she lapsed into silence and picked at her food instead. Gibbs' cell phone went off just as the entree' had been served, and although he had the good grace not to seem relieved, he did rise from table to take the call, muttering 'Pacci' to nobody in particular as he did. He returned just as the bill had been placed on the table. Jen reached for it at the same time as he did, and the frisson that passed between them made them both freeze. _

_Jordan watched them both for a second, and then she plucked the piece of paper from the wallet._

"_My treat" she said._

"_I need to get back to NCIS."_

"_Of course" Jen said, getting to her feet. _

"_I'll .. call you" he said, not really looking at her._

By the time Jenny started to feel the chill from sitting in the park close to her old home it was late afternoon, and she was finally feeling ready to face the old ghosts she was sure still lurked within its walls.

As she walked up the footpath she thought about the last time she'd seen it. Jethro had closed the front door and locked it because she hadn't been able to. It had seemed too definite. She'd told herself that she wasn't leaving behind years of memories, but that she was going on vacation – and that she'd be back. As the key slipped into the lock she wondered whether she really was ready to step back into her past. She wondered whether she'd be able to sleep in her old bed knowing that the last time she'd slept in it Jethro had been with her. Shaking her head to clear it of the visuals, she turned the key; slipping inside with a heavier heart than she knew she ought to have. One look around, she promised herself. And tomorrow she would put the house on the market.

The first thing that struck her as soon as she stepped into the hallway was that something was not quite right, and her instinctive reaction was fear. She was getting ready to back out when something came careening towards her.

"You're not allowed to pee in the hallway again" a familiar voice reprimanded.

"Abby?" Jen said as she reached down and picked up the bundle of fur that was nestling against her legs.

"Jenny!" Abby said in delight as she took the puppy from her and cuddled him. Then she held him up. "Nero ... meet Jenny. Jenny .. _this_ is Nero. Your new puppy."

"My new .. puppy?" Jen asked in confusion as Abby placed him in her arms.

"To replace Zully. Well, not replace, but .. you know what I mean. Godfrey and I got him from a shelter. He isn't housetrained."

"How did you know I was coming here?"

"Erm ... Ducky told me. We've been here for a while."

"We? How did you get in?" Jen said as the puppy licked her face.

"You'll have to ask the person in the kitchen that" the goth replied with a smile. "And now I have to go. Because I have a date, and I have to ... get ready. Oh .. it's okay if I date Godfrey, right? Because if it isn't just ... say the word and I won't date him."

"Go have fun" Jen said with an indulgent smile.

"You will keep Nero, right?" Abby asked, suddenly worried.

"I will keep Nero" Jen said, holding him tight. "Thank you, Abby."

Abby put her face close to the puppy and let him slobber her.

"I know I know. I love you too" she said to him before smiling broadly at him and slipping out the front door.

Jen was still smiling as soon as she put the puppy down and watched him take off, crashing into furniture as he slid around on the hardwood floor. At the back of her head she registered that sounds were coming from the kitchen. Her eyes widened as she recognised the voice fussing over the puppy.

"Noemi?" she said incredulously as she came face to face with the girl who had kept house for her nine years earlier. She'd been a slip of a girl then, but she'd grown into a woman since then.

"Señora!"

For a moment Jen stared at her in disbelief, and then it occurred to her what was out of place. For a house that had sat empty for nine years, it was spotless.

"Did you do all this?" she asked, looking round her old kitchen.

Noemi nodded and smiled.

"In two hours?"

"No" Noemi said with a smile. "I only came today because Miss Abigail said you were coming and I wanted to see you. Ever since you went away I have cleaned the house every six months. Top to bottom" she added proudly.

"Why?"

"Because Agent Gibbs asked me to" Noemi said simply as she reached for her coat.

"I must owe you a lot of money" Jen said, reaching into her bag for her checkbook – still reeling from the revelation. Not sure what to make of it.

But Noemi smiled.

"Agent Gibbs has always paid me" she said. "Even when he was in Russia. He looked after the garden himself, and two years ago there was a problem with the water pipes in the bathroom when I was here cleaning. He spent the weekend here fixing it and painting the wall. I think he was always hoping that you would come home, Señora. And he wanted to be sure everything was in order when you did."

When she was gone Jen sat in her study with a glass of bourbon and Nero on her lap. As she scratched the skin behind his ears she let her mind drift to Jethro, and what it meant that he would keep her house clean but not be able to look at her.

"What do you think?" she asked the puppy who was looking so adoringly at her. "Do you think he knew that it was only a matter of time before I realised he'd done this, and wasn't sure of my reaction?"

The puppy yawned.

"Sorry if you think this is boring" Jen said with a small chuckle.

Nero stretched, and his tongue darted out over his face before he sneezed.

"And that's your last word on the matter?" Jen asked.

Nero sneezed again.

"And you're sure it's a good idea ..."

Nero gave one last sneeze.

"I shall be so guided" she said as she got to her feet.

________________________________________________

**Author's note:**

This story just got itself an extra chapter because I am once again out of time. And still of the opinion that half a chapter is better than none.


	16. Chapter 16

Gibbs ran his hand along the edge of the end grain, and only when he had identified the smoother direction did he begin to sand. He was pouring his soul into the wood beneath his hands, thinking of Jenny, when he heard an unusual patter on the stairs.

"Who let _you_ in?" he asked as he picked the puppy up.

"That would have been me."

He looked up at the woman standing in the middle of his staircase, and the only thing he could think of to say was, "Something wrong?"

Jen shook her head and walked down the steps.

"I see you still drink out of mason jars" she said, as she approached the workbench. When he didn't say anything but continued to scratch the dog's head, she added "he isn't housetrained."

"Uh-huh" Gibbs replied, as he placed the puppy down in a pile of sawdust under the boat and ruffled his fur. "_Stay_."

The dog looked up at him with wide eyes for a moment, and then curled up contentedly into a ball.

"I guess you're wondering why I'm here."

"I know why you're here ..."

"You didn't need to do it."

"Wanted to."

"Tha-"

"Welcome."

Gibbs stepped up to the counter and emptied one of the mason jars of its contents. He filled it with bourbon and took a long swallow.

"Are you going to offer me some?" Jen asked.

He paused for a moment, before emptying another mason jar and filling it too. Placing it in front of her without a word.

"This isn't the same boat you were building nine years ago is it?" she asked conversationally as she walked round it – trying to dissipate the awkwardness.

"Nope" he said, picking up a rag and dipping it in mineral spirits before walking back to the boat.

She watched him in silence, feeling her chest constrict as the ensuing silence amplified the tension between them. When it became unbearable, the only thing she knew to do was break the silence.

"There was nothing you could have done, Jethro. Not then and not now."

"Yeah" he said dismissively, staring at the hand that she placed on his arm until it dropped back to her side.

"Why are you making this so hard, Jethro?"

"It's complicated" he replied, the feeling that he couldn't give her the honesty she deserved clawing at him.

"There's nothing complicated about it at all" she snapped, slamming her jar onto the bottom of the upturned boat. "I came here to see whether there's too much damn water under the bridge."

"I don't know Jen."

"You _do_ know" she said, stepping into his personal space - past caring that her tone was accusatory.

He silenced her with a touch, and she swallowed the words that had been on the verge of spilling from her lips. As he pressed his index finger against her lips the intensity in his eyes made her want to look away. But she didn't.

"So you're saying we can't be friends..." she said as his finger dropped away.

"No" he replied, his eyes boring into hers.

For a moment she stood in stunned silence, and then she took one step backwards. Only to find that she was going nowhere, because the hand that had slipped around her waist was anchoring her in place.

"Jethro .." she began.

But he shook his head, brushing away a stray strand of hair that had dislodged itself before lowering his mouth to her right eye. He kissed it gently, and she closed her eyes; lost in a confusing barrage of thoughts that threatened to overwhelm her as he moved to the other eye and kissed it in the same gentle way. As he cupped her cheek with infinite tenderness she placed her own hand over his, murmuring his name against the callused palm ash she nuzzled it. Stepping fully into his strong embrace seconds later when the significance of his _no_ dawned on her.

She wasn't sure how long they stood with their arms around each other, but when he pulled back his eyes were no longer guarded.

"I missed you Jen" he said quietly as he ran a hand through her hair.

Using touch to convey far more to her than words ever could.

Jen felt her body flare to life the moment he kissed her, and as he pushed her back against the boat and his lips nipped at hers, her hands came up to frame his face. She'd forgotten how intense kissing him could be, the havoc he could wreak with the tongue that stroked hers. He sucked at her lips and didn't let up until she responded in kind – refusing to let her be passive. When she caught his lower lip between her own and ran her tongue over it he groaned and pulled away; running an open mouth across her cheek and breathing a little heavily as his hand rounded her behind and pulled her into him. As he pulled an earlobe into his mouth and traced it with his tongue she turned into his neck; only able to resist marking him with her teeth because the erection pressing into her middle was claiming her attention. She lapped at his skin as her hand dipped into his sweatpants and stroked him through his boxers. Making him hiss and pull himself up to look at her as she grazed his length with a slow deliberation that threatened to turn him inside out.

Impossibly dark eyes took in the way her hair spread out across her shoulders and his boat, and he wrapped a hand in it; pulling her head backwards. Forcing her to look up at him. Providing himself with better access to her mouth. Their lips crashed violently together - the sensation of their bodies pressing against after so long the ultimate aphrodisiac. He pressed his forehead against hers when it became necessary to breathe. But he couldn't ignore the tug of her body for long, a body that he needed to rediscover. She rubbed him gently as she watched him undo the buttons on her shirt; keeping him on edge but not letting him get close to it. When she was naked from the waist up he ran a flat hand down her throat, a few fingers navigating the valley between her breasts while his thumb and index finger pinched a nipple lightly. When she shuddered he smiled and replaced them with his mouth, freeing his hand to run down her sides. The thought about whether he should suggest taking this upstairs was driven from his head the moment she pushed his sweats down and reached for him again. He moaned against her as he stepped out of the clothing, and then removed her hand from his length long enough to remove her skirt and underwear. As he raised his arms and slipped his sweatshirt over his head he felt her mouth close over one of his nipples, and his breath hitched. Instinctively he raised one of her legs to ride his hip, lifting her from the floor as he slipped into her. Pushing against a whimper of surprise that became a guttural moan when he thrust forcefully into her.

For a while it was enough simply to hold her there as he slid in and out of her. Enough to watch her wanton form splayed across his boat. To reacquaint himself with the intimate connection that he'd never quite forgotten. But the storm was gathering, and the eyes that held his told him so even as they urged him on.

"Jeth ..." she whispered – and the sound of his name dying on her lips was all it took to shatter his self-control. He pressed his mouth to hers, swallowing her scream when she came as explosively as he did. Conscious only of the fact that she was murmuring softly. Holding him close as he surrendered to the bittersweet sensations that racked his body.

He held her quietly for a while, letting the tremors subside. Knowing she would be unbearably tender for a few minutes. When he felt her press a kiss to his jaw he pressed a kiss of his own to her forehead.

"Welcome home, Jen" he said gently.


	17. Epilogue

_**Six months later ...**_

Tony tugged at his cravat as he looked out over the sea of people in the back garden.

"There's still time to back out" he whispered.

"Di Nozzo .." Gibbs said threateningly.

"Just sayin' Boss."

"Don't."

He was about to add something else when the music struck up and all eyes shifted to the sight of Abby walking up the aisle, Nero dutifully at her side.

"Have you got the rings?" Ducky asked him when they reached the top.

Nero held out a basket for inspection.

"Good boy" the medical examiner, patting his head. "Give them to Tony."

"No licking" Tony hissed as he reached out and prised the handle from the dog's mouth.

Nero all but rolled his eyes at him before he settled between Gibbs and Ducky and watched the bride tread the red carpet.

"She's very beautiful" Ducky whispered to Gibbs.

"That she is" he replied as he stepped forward to bring her the last part of the way. As he did his eyes caught Jen's, and the luminosity in them made a smile break out over his face.

He heard Ducky draw a deep breath of pride as he passed his bride over to him, and smiled again at Jen as she took the veil that Ducky raised and settled it on the back of Jordan's dress. When she was satisfied that she had done all she could, she stepped into the space next to Gibbs, and slipped her hand into his.

Together they let McGee's voice wash over them.

"Hope is the thing with feathers" he began, "that perches in the soul, and sings the tune without the words, and never stops at all."

From her place a few feet away Abby felt a bubble of contentment rise within her as she watched Gibbs raise Jen's fingertips discreetly to his lips and press a kiss to them.

She looked over at Nero and winked. Everything was as it should be.

________________________________________________________

**Author's note:**

McGee is reading an excerpt from a poem by Emily Dickinson.

I feel obliged to point out that _Nero_ will be featuring in a oneshot very very soon. And as always, thanks to _Morgan_ for putting up with me throughout the writing of this. She is also credited with choosing the puppy's name.


End file.
